Gravitation
by Cerulean1
Summary: Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love. Albert Einstein. This is the sequel to 'A Lucky Woman' and 'What I Will Be, I Was', jumps around a bit, but not-quite one-shots.
1. Chapter 1

**Oh my! I did not expect such a reaction to Teiron! I was...kinda floored. Like, really. So, yeah, gonna try my hand at something sorta plotless and fluffy. I've got a couple other ideas, not sure if they're going to be one-shotty or if I'll link them together in a narrative. I'll see what kind of reaction this gets first. It's been over a decade since I've written anything without a clear end before (beyond what I've already written about their future) so I'm flying blind, I'm sorry! And since I moved the location of this story I should probably drop the line that Shepard shows back up after this chapter :)**

* * *

The eternal afternoon of the Presidium was one of those thing on the Citadel that Teiron would never get used to. The wards had regular day/night cycles, though each was set to a different schedule, but the Presidium remained forever at two in the afternoon. It was why she didn't come up here often. It bothered her, when she was exhausted and ready to collapse in bed, that it should look like lunch time. She'd worked nights before, and it reminded her of that, and she didn't particularly like being reminded of that.

Today, however, was not about her. It was not about how much she hated the pretense and the stuck-uppery that seemed to permeate every living soul on the Citadel's central ring. She would have thought, what with the explosion a few centuries before, and the attack by Sovereign a few years before that, that the people living here would have become a bit more normal. It hadn't happened. Everyone up here thought themselves better than everyone else, and it showed.

She could feel the eyes on her as she walked along the bridge. Feel the condescending attitude that radiated from the people as they looked at her and her daughter, seizing them up, judging them on clothes that were more than a few seasons out of fashion.

Most people thought that asari by and large were independently wealthy. There were simply too many asari for this to be true, but for the most part those of her people who weren't kept mostly to themselves, and to asari space, than these stuck up types in this constant sunshine. While it was true that few asari had children unless they were prepared for the costs of a half century of care, she wasn't that unusual. She didn't think she was that unusual. Yes, she worked long hours, and no, she couldn't give Erra everything she wanted, but she could give her this.

And at only 22, Erra was still too young to notice the stares and the whispers as they passed. The girl had never been up here, had spent her entire life in the wards, and it was nice to give her this one day to take in something that Teiron didn't want her daughter to _want_, but would do everything in her power to give if she ever did.

Teiron's Omni-Tool beeped. She glanced down at it and groaned. She'd told her boss she needed the day off the Friday before, when it was clear that the generators would not last long enough to keep the school open the following Monday, but apparently he hadn't been listening.

"Everything okay, Mom?" Erra asked, innocent wide eyes looking up at her.

"Perfect sweetie. Mommy's gotta take this call." She looked around quickly and spotted an ice cream stall between an arms dealer and a clothing store. She fished out her credit chit and palmed it, glaring as her omni continued to beep. "Why don't you go get some ice cream. I want strawberry okay?"

Erra's smile was worth the scrimping they'd have to do the following week to pay for the over priced human sweet. It was all teeth, her eyes dancing in joy. She grabbed the chit and skipped over, joining the long line. She turned back and waved, Teiron returned it as the accepted the call.

"Yeah," she answered, "what do you want Horus?"

The volus on the screen appeared as angry as a volus can appear, what with their enviro-suits. "You...were supposed...to be here...half an hour ago," he said.

She did her best not to roll her eyes. "I told you last week. Power's down in half the ward, my daughter didn't have school today, and the babysitter can't work Mondays. You said I could have today and tomorrow off to watch her."

"I don't...have...any of the paperwork."

She bit the inside of her cheek. She hated this damn volus, more than she hated most people. "It's in your inbox, under the folder marked 'leave'. It's dated Friday." She wouldn't sigh, she wouldn't complain. It was just part of what she had to deal with. Goddess-forsaken dead-end job.

The volus turned, clicking away at a terminal out of her view. He made the volus equivalent of a grunt. "Oh. It does...seem to be...in order. I...will...see you tomorrow."

"Day after," she said. She looked over at Erra; she was still waiting in line. She caught her eye, and Erra waved again. Teiron smiled. It was worth it. She had to keep telling herself it was worth it.

"Of course. Day after." The call ended suddenly and it took all Teiron's willpower to not throw her omni into the lake below. Eying the lake she saw a familiar asari surrounded by a group of human teenagers. It bothered her, in distant sort of way, that Illira Shepard was up here teaching human children and hadn't brought her normal class up for the same lesson. She knew that Illira hadn't been the one to stop classes that day, though, and didn't let herself dwell on all the social implications.

She glanced back toward her daughter; she'd moved forward in line but still hadn't reached the counter. She tried to make herself enjoy the artificial sunlight, the permanent contentedness that infused the Presidium. She closed her eyes and leaned against the railing. She could hear Illira talking, lecturing, but couldn't make out the words. Erra would want to go say hi, but for the moment she let the noise drift up and around her.

"Teiron?" a quiet voice broke through her internal musings.

At first she thought she'd imagined it. This voice had haunted her dreams for more centuries that she cared to remember, and she'd resigned herself long ago that she would never hear it again. Even when she discovered who her daughter's teacher would be, the idea of running into this particular asari again had never crossed her mind. Liara T'Soni had never made it entirely easy to figure out what they had meant to each other, but in the four decades since the death of Commander Shepard, Teiron would have figured she'd have heard something. It wasn't as if she'd changed her number in the last two hundred years. It took her a moment to realize that the voice had been real though, that she could feel the body attached to it standing next to her and she finally opened her eyes.

And there she was.

She was wearing a dress very similar to the one Teiron had first seen her in, all those years ago. Green and clinging in all the right places, outwardly conservative but in asari fashion hinting in a way that made it much more erotic than if she'd simply been naked. The cut was slightly different, conforming to modern style, but otherwise almost indistinguishable from the one she'd seen in a bar on Illium long enough ago that she shouldn't really be able to remember it. Liara could easily have stepped right off the page of a fashion magazine.

Teiron felt her mouth go dry, and for a moment couldn't think of anything to say. She felt the smile cross her face, felt it widen as Liara returned it, but there was no conscious thought behind it.

"Li-Liara?" She cursed herself for the stutter. Great first impression, Teiron, she chided herself.

"I thought that was you. It's...been a long time."

That was the understatement of the century. The last time they had seen each other Liara had looked liked she'd wanted to be anywhere else, and Commander Shepard had made a few mistimed and inappropriate jokes at their expense. She hadn't heard from Liara since.

She'd kept track of her, though. Not that doing so took that much effort. Shepard had quickly become the poster child for not only the N7 program, but the Systems Alliance and the Council Spectres as well. Her name was attached to the cure for the Krogan Genophage and by extension the Krogan Renaissance that had swept the race for the last few centuries. She was called the backbone of the Geth-Quarian Civil Defense Force, a spectre-like operation that patrolled the terminus systems. And the T'Soni-Shepard bonding was still talked about. There hadn't been a spectacle like it since, not even with the birth of any of their children. And when Shepard had lived to be nearly 200 Liara had been shoved into the limelight again. There had been movies, books, a line of clothing, all dedicated to the galaxy's most well-known couple. Even when she'd wanted to cut all ties, something would happen and T'Soni would be back in the news and indirectly in Teiron's life. Like when Erra came home and told her that her new teacher was a Shepard.

"Couple centuries, give or take." It surprised her that there wasn't any bitterness in her voice, that she sounded completely earnest. That she was completely earnest.

"Is everything alright?" Liara nodded at Teiron's arm, where the Omni-tool had gone dark just moments before Liara had spoken.

"Oh? This? Yes. Just work. Are you living on the Citadel now?" She wanted to ask about Shepard. If Liara was dealing with the loss this time. She didn't.

"No. Thessia." Liara looked over at Illira. The young woman was standing in a sea of raised hands. "I came to f- um, my eldest and youngest live here. I came to visit."

"Are you-"

"Mommy look!" Erra interrupted, skidding to a halt, the large ice cream cones almost toppling to the floor. "The man asked who my mommy was and I pointed at you and look he gave me extra!" She shoved one of the cones up at her mother's face, and Teiron took it with an embarrassed smile.

"Liara, this is my daughter, Erra. Erra, this is Liara T'Soni."

The girl spun, wide-eyed to look at Liara. Her jaw dropped and she stuttered, "Y-you're M-ms. Shepard's mom! The guy thought I was pointing at you! Oh! Is it true? All the stuff they say? About you and the Commander and your mom and the ship and the big ships and the geth..." The girl's eyes narrowed suddenly, and her smile fell away. "How do you know my mom?"

Teiron opened her mouth to apologize, or maybe chastise Erra, but before she could Liara had laughed and dropped down so she was on eye level with the young asari. "Some of it is true. But not very much. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Erra." Liara held out a hand, and Erra took it cautiously. "I've known your mom for a very long time, and we were...friends, for a while."

"Oh. I'm in Ms. Shepard's class," Erra said as if that explained everything.

"Well, I hope she's teaching you something useful. When she was little, she tried to teach her teddy bear algebra."

Erra pursed her lips in confusion. "What's a teddy bear?"

"A stuffed toy. I did not understand it either, but Illira's father was insistent. Bears are very large, very dangerous earth mammals and humans make toys of them for their children. I believe it is a throw back to when they had to be fierce hunters." Erra looked suitable awed at the information.

All the uncomfortable tension that had been building was gone. Liara seemed like a different person as she spoke to Erra. She was at ease, smiling and laughing with the girl. Teiron felt her heart ache and pushed the feelings aside. They would talk for a few moments today, but it was highly unlikely that they would see each other again afterward.

She tried to burn the image before her in her memory just the same though. Liara, squatting down beside Erra, her eyes sparkling. Erra looking as if all her birthdays had come at once. It was beautiful and strange and perfect, and much too fleeting.

Liara stood and Erra scurried over to a bench and sat down to eat her ice cream. Teiron held out the cone she was holding. "Would you like some?"

Liara smiled. "No. I believe I have had more than my fair share of that particular earth delicacy. Shepard insisted on keeping gallons of it in the house, but I seemed to always be the one eating it." As she finished speaking, Liara seemed to think perhaps she shouldn't have said a word. Teiron hadn't exactly been looking forward to talking about Liara's lover, Liara's bondmate, the father of Liara's children, but she had expected it. They had spent nearly two hundred years together, after all.

"They sell it by the gallon?" Liara looked up suddenly and smiled, Teiron's question letting her know there were no hard feelings. How could there have been? She couldn't blame Liara for not loving her. It wasn't Liara's fault.

Liara chuckled, "Yes. She had it shipped to Thessia from Earth. It was..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "She's beautiful," she said instead.

"She's a handful, just ask your daughter. Wouldn't trade her for anything though. She's killed my drinking habit, don't know if I should thank her for that or not."

"They do do that, don't they? Just wait until she grows up and figures out how to get into the liquor cabinet."

They shared a laugh that only parents can understand and fell into an easy silence. It took awhile for Teiron to think that perhaps it shouldn't be so easy. That she should be uncomfortable and wanting to leave the presence of the woman who had broken her heart. She dismissed it, it was better like this anyway. They had never been anything more than good friends.

Illira's class was breaking up, the students wandering away. The asari was left the clean up the Crookes' radiometer she'd been demonstrating. A few passerby's stopped to watch the spinning vanes, and she was left to answer the questions of the mingling adults as well as the ones from the teenage stragglers. Liara turned to watch her daughter, a content, proud smile twisting at her lips. Erra slipped between then, standing on tip-toe to lean her arms on the railing.

"She took us out to the docks and outside the atmosphere fields when we studied that. Remember? When I had to take my pressure suit? How come she didn't do that with them? It was fun, I got to hold the lamp!"

"Probably couldn't get clearance to take a bunch of diplomats kids outside," Teiron mused bitterly, squeezing Erra's shoulder.

"All the docks are on lock down until later this evening, actually," Liara answered. She started after she spoke, and shrugged. "I should go. It was...nice seeing you again Teiron. And it was a pleasure to meet you, Erra." She smiled, weakly, and turned away. She merged into the crowd on the stairs, and Teiron thought she saw her look back but it could have just been wishful thinking.

"I'm gonna ask her to dinner!" Erra shouted, and tried to skip away. Teiron grabbed her hand, pulling her up short.

"No. She's here to visit with her daughter, sweetheart."

The girl wrinkled her nose. "Don't call me sweetheart. And why not? It's not like she's my teacher! And she's nice! I wanna ask her about The Shepard!" She tried to pull away again.

"It's not 'The' Shepard. She had a name, use it."

"_Fine._ But please? Pleasepleasepleaseplease_plea__se_? She's like famous! And you know her! I'm gonna be the most popular kid in school! Please mom? I'll just ask!"

Teiron had learned long ago that when Erra turned those big, sad eyes on her there was nothing she would deny her daughter if it was in her power to give it. "Alright. But if she says no, accept it! You understand me? And don't go asking personal questions. She's a person, not a way to increase your popularity at school."

"Duh, mom. Gimme five minutes."

Teiron let go of her hand, and watched her daughter weave in and out of the crowd. She looked down at Illira, and saw Liara walk up to her. Erra tripped on the grass, and Teiron watch Illira laugh as she helped the child to her feet. They spoke quietly, her daughter bouncing in place, the older women laughing at her.

And then Liara was nodding.

And Erra was clapping.

And Illira was looking up at her, a knowing smile on her face.

And Teiron might just have thought that moment was perfect.


	2. Chapter 2

**So, I'm changing things up a bit, because well, I can. First bits a flashback. Probably gonna keep it like this from now on, with a loose connection between the two sections. **

* * *

"Nana, lookit what I drew." The tiny child drug herself up onto her grandmother's lap, clutching the piece of paper tightly in her hand. It became crumpled and once she was sitting properly across the elder woman's legs she tried valiantly to straighten it out.

"Let me see, Illira," Hannah Shepard said, adjusting the small child on her lap.

The fact that the small being on her lap had just turned ten bothered her on some level. The girl wasn't, apparently, even old enough to start school. She was shot a big, gap toothed grin however, that, whatever her feelings about the girl's mother, never ceased to melt her heart. The paper was shoved into her face and she took it carefully. It was somewhat sticky, probably from the sticky fruit juice Illira had all over her hands. She smiled, only slightly forced, at the picture. There was a blue stick figure with 'Mommy' written above it beside an orange stick figure with brown curls on its head. This one had 'Daddy' above it, the lower case 'd's backwards. Their stick arms were touching, probably to show they were holding hands. On the far side of what Hannah assumed was supposed to be her daughter was a smaller blue figure, slightly more detailed, that had 'ME' written beneath it. Finally, on the other side of what was probably Liara, was an even smaller blue stick figure. This, strangely, had 'Gun' written above it.

"Who's gun, sweetie?"

Illira gave her a look that was clearly learned from her...father. One part incredulousness, three parts sympathy, all tied up with a feeling that the asker is slightly less intelligent for asking. "'S my sister!" She waved a pudgy hand around the room. "I getta meet 'er today!"

"What kind of name is gun? That's not a real name, sweetie."

"It's what Daddy calls her. You can take it. So you 'member us when you gotta go 'way again."

"Thank you, honey." Hannah let her eyes roam over the waiting room, and pushed down a desire to leave. It wasn't quite as bad as when Illira was born, but it wasn't what she would call a normal group that was waiting for the birth of her second grandchild. There was krogan sitting beside an asari, Liara's father. The krogan – with the most absurd name, who names their kid 'Grunt', even Krogan had to be smarter than that – called the asari 'Poppi' which was Illira's name of choice for the woman as well. No one had ever explained why to Hannah, but whenever her daughter heard it she strutted around like a peacock for the next hour. Illira's...grandfather...was talking too quietly to be head, which was a rarity at least in Hannah's experience. Beside them was that Williams kid again. Hannah's eyes slid right past her, her mind unable to process what she was seeing there. Everyone knew the Williams' were turian sympathizers, but this was just ridiculous. The woman had her hand clenched tightly in the talons of a turian with markings that might have been the same as those on the one that had been at her daughter's funeral. What her daughter was thinking with keeping company with creatures like this Hannah would never understand.

The couple had two children with them, too. She would have thought Williams at least would have the presence of mind not to flaunt her family's disgrace. Despite the fact that the woman had been made a spectre a few years earlier didn't eliminate the truth that her grandfather had laid down his guns to the very people that had...she took a deep breath, and rubbed a hand along Illira's back. She'd promised herself that she would do better. For her daughter. For her grandchildren. There was a turian boy who was probably of an age with Illira, but looked much older. Turians, unlike asari, aged more like humans. Hannah didn't like the connection. There was a small human girl as well, sitting on the turians lap. Hannah's first instinct when she'd seen that was to snatch the girl away, and protect her. She didn't like that it was clear the turian truly cared for the young girl.

The quarians that had been there for Illira's birth were absent, the young woman, who Hannah had actually grown to like over the short time they'd known each other, was apparently near her own due date with her first child. The outrageous numbers of humans that had been there for Illira were gone as well, except for the Normandy's pilot and the young, dark hair woman that was always with him. The woman didn't look like she'd aged at all in the last ten years, and Hannah found herself wondering if it would be rude to go over and ask her what her secret was.

Illira wiggled on her lap to get down, and then went back to the low table in the waiting room where various toys were laid out. The girl on the turians lap asked him something, and moments later she had joined Illira at the table. Hannah leaned back, staring at the picture she'd been given. It reminded her of the ones she'd been given by a very different small child, though those had only ever had two people in them. Herself and her daughter. She'd hang this one beside them at her place on Earth.

Everyone looked up as the sound of an alarm went off and a crash cart ran passed. That was never a good sign on a maternity ward, and doubly so when they were the only people there.

Liara's father gto up, stalking out, already glowing slightly from a biotic fury. They faded when Illira spoke. "Poppi, what's wrong?"

The older woman paused, and Hannah watched her carefully. It was hard to remember that it was this woman's daughter that that cart would have been called for.

"Nothing, Beanstalk. I'm just going to make sure your Daddy isn't messing with my girl, okay?"

Illira nodded solemnly as she watched her grandfather head out into the hall. She shrugged and went back to her coloring. Hannah was suddenly glad Illira wasn't quite as old as her years suggested.

It seemed like hours, though it was probably just minutes, before the asari came back. The Williams kid stood and went to talk to her. There was a lot of head shaking, and finally the human sat down. Hannah jumped slightly when the asari threw herself down in the seat beside her.

"Is everything alright?" It was no secret that Hannah had disapproved of her daughter marrying Liara. She'd gone to the wedding, sure, but she hadn't been happy about it. For the most part her daughter's friends let her be, and she was more than happy to let it remain like that. She was here to watch her granddaughter, and because her daughter had asked her to be, that was all.

"Kid's fine. Yours might not be when I get done with her. Baby probably won't be."

Hannah didn't know what to make of the way she felt at those words. She'd felt it before. The day she was told her husband was dead. The day she was told her daughter was dead. The day she found out her daughter wasn't dead. It was like being punched in the gut. She hadn't wanted grandchildren like this. She'd been very disapproving when she'd been told about Illira. She loved the girl now but she hadn't been happy that her grandchildren would be asari. They weren't _hers._ They weren't her daughter's. They were just clones of their mother. Damn asari tart. But the thought that this baby might die, that Illira might not get the sister she'd been looking forward to, it was oddly disturbing. "I...I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well. Kid's too young to be popping her own out anyway. Illira was a goddess damned miracle. I just hate seeing her hurt." The last sentence came out more of a growl. "And don't think I'm letting that brat of yours off the hook. Takes two to tango."

Hannah bit back a laugh. She'd had similar thoughts over the years. They fell into an uneasy silence, waiting for news. Illira came over, another drawing in her hands, and gave this one to her grandfather. The asari...Aethyta, Hannah mentally corrected...took it, and laughed at the name of the baby. She was given the same explanation, "That's what Daddy calls her."

"I guess it's better than Carnifex," Aethyta laughed, tucking the drawing into a pocket and putting the girl back on the floor. The door opened as she did, and her daughter stood in the doorway.

She was wearing powder blue scrubs, but they were covered in violet blood. Hannah saw Aethyta's face pale, but neither woman said a word.

"Daddy!" Illira shouted, running over to her. "Where's Gun? Can I meet her now? Why are you bloody?" She stopped short. "Is mommy okay?"

Hannah saw tears in her daughter's eyes even as she smiled and squatted down beside Illira. "It's _Allison, _Illira, not Gunn. Mommy's fine, she's just very tired right now so we can't go see her. I need to talk to Poppi, alright? Can you go play? "

The girl nodded and went back to the table. Her mother stared at her for a long minute before turning to the Williams girl and the turian. She didn't lower her voice, and Hannah was fairly certain she wasn't thinking clearly. She remembered, vaguely, what her own, complicated delivery was like, and figured it couldn't be any easier on her daughter.

"Garrus, Ash, I...the baby's in bad shape. I know I said-"

"Don't even say it. We'll call tomorrow," the Williams woman replied, moving to hug the other spectre but stopping when she remembered the bloody clothes the other was wearing. The turian had no qualms about getting asari blood all over himself though, and pulled her into a tight hug. Hannah stiffened as she watched, but relaxed when she noticed that her daughter seemed more at ease when he pulled away. She slugged him in the arm, and nodded silently as they gathered up their children and left. Illira watched her new friend go, and then left the small table to go sit on Grunts lap, another picture already finished in her hands. The pilot and his...girlfriend? Nurse? Hannah wasn't sure what she was...made their goodbyes as well, with promises to call.

"What's the verdict?" Aethyta asked, not looking up from her hands.

"Liara will be fine. She...lost a lot of blood, but they were able to stop the bleeding fairly early. The- the baby's alive. She uh...they think she had...um...shit, they called it something. Ke...Kar...it's something about her spine. They don't think...a couple years..." Her voice broke.

Hannah did the only thing she could think of.

She stood up and held her daughter while she wept.

* * *

"Hey, T, did you see who was in the lobby?" Lorse asked, taloned hand banging his locker shut.

"I've been in the warehouse all day, what do you think?" Teiron snapped back, shrugging out of her uniform and into a plain, yellow shirt, the ends slightly tattered.

"No need to be rude. It's just that there's a real life celebrity in there, and Horus looks like he's about split a seam. Always wondered what he'd look like if his pressure suit came off." There was a low rumbling chuckle from the turian, and Teiron joined him. Nobody like Horus.

"Don't leave me in the dark. Who's out there? Blasto?" Two hundred years, sixty movies and twelve different hanar later and the Blasto franchise was still going strong. It seemed like a waste of decent screen time to Teiron, but what did she know. Erra was always bugging to go see it, but Teiron was not about to let her baby girl anywhere near that tripe.

"Bah. Didya ever meet the first one? Still think he's the best. But no. It's Commander Shepard's widow, no less. Heard she's consulting with the Alliance on some top secret asari/human space station to wipe out the turians. You'd give me a heads up if that was true, wouldn't you?"

Teiron felt a sick flutter in her stomach and pushed it roughly aside. Turians generally couldn't tell one asari from the next, and Lorse was the worst. It probably wasn't even Liara. It was probably Kay, from the gift shop on level 32. She often came down here for extra stock.

It certainly couldn't actually be Liara.

She had said, when she had canceled the dinner plans she had made with Erra after their brief reunion on the Presidium, that she'd be back as soon as she could. That had been four days ago. She hadn't said why she'd had to cancel last minute, nor when she'd been back. Teiron had assumed it was a simple brush off, that Liara had thought about the consequences of trying to rekindle their long lost friendship and had decided it wasn't worth it. There was no reason now to believe that wasn't true.

"Uh-huh. Right. The next thing you're going to tell me is you had dinner with the turian councilor and you're going to father her children."

"I'm serious. Blue, about this tall, weird human-looking markings on her face. Involved in that whole Batarian thing back when you were...oh, wait, you were probably the same age."

"Shut up. That could be anyone."

"Sure it could. I heard she was there when the Batarians went down. Leading the charge against them."

"Let me guess, you heard that from a batarian? You know what I heard?" She tried to keep her voice steady, but it bothered her more than it should that the short lived races were so quick to forget the truth. She'd never seen one of those monster things, but plenty of people had. Two hundred years ago the batarians had been screaming 'Reaper' right along side Shepard, and when that Prothean was discovered on Eden Prime the rest of the galaxy had listened. But without evidence, and with attention spans shorter than their thought processes it wasn't long until the batarians were turning the blame back on the humans for the loss of their colonies a few decades before. And since Liara and Shepard's children had been all over the news at the time, they'd thrown Dr. T'Soni and the asari in for good measure.

"Do tell," he said with mock seriousness.

"That she has tea with the Rachni Queen every Thursday and that the genophage cure? She just stared at the Krogan long enough that their backup organs kicked in."

Lorse laughed, "Alright, I get it. Don't believe everything you hear. But its still her. Got some smokin' hot asari on her arm too. I thought you people didn't play with your own kind."

"You're a jerk," Teiron forced out, her stomach in her feet. There had been nothing to suggest that Liara had _ever_ felt anything for her. What would have been a one night stand that got interrupted before it began and a very teary kiss did not a relationship make. She'd only agreed to dinner because Erra had asked, and she'd backed out at the last minute because she'd never planned to show up in the first place. Teiron had known this from the start, and she cursed herself for the feeling of betrayal that was threatening to overwhelm her.

"Just call 'em like I see 'em. I'll see ya Monday?"

"You get the weekend off?"

"You know it."

"I hate you." Teiron forced herself to laugh, to smile, to collect her things and walk toward the door. It wasn't like it was actually Liara that Lorse had seen. Unless it was. Unless she'd never left and her leaving the Citadel had just been an excuse to not go to dinner. Unless she'd been trying to actively avoid Teiron.

She wasn't entirely sure which she wanted to be true as she slipped out the employee entrance and glanced over into the warehouse lobby. Through the partition separating the front lobby from the wards main thoroughfare she could see Horus and two asari in profile. Liara was closest to her, and it was very clearly Liara. She was leaning down, talking quickly to the volus. Teiron felt her stomach tighten in a knot, seeing her there with someone else. She'd known it was likely, but to flaunt the fact that she was seeing another asari...it wasn't the Liara Teiron had once known.

On the upside, she thought, the young woman with her wasn't what she'd expected from Lorse's description as 'smoking hot'. She supposed that to an outside observer she might be considered pretty, but no asari would call her so. She was pale, and a little peaky; the folds on her neck clearly inflamed. To an asari it all meant just one thing, she was sick. Sick with what there was no way of telling, though it probably wasn't a simple head cold. Teiron pushed aside the twisting burn of jealously that rose up in her. The woman at Liara's side was not only weak and ill, but young enough to be one of Liara's daughters. She pointedly ignored the little voice that told her that the age difference between herself and Liara was slightly more than between Liara and Illira.

The women moved away, Liara slipping her arm around the younger woman's making Teiron taste bile, and leaving Horus twisting his hands nervously. He snapped at the young human working the front desk – Teiron had never learned her name – and shuffled back to his office. Teiron felt herself rooted to the spot, eyes locked on Liara as she moved through the shifting crowd. They took a seat on a bench not far from the warehouse and lowered their heads together talking too quietly for Teiron to make out the words.

She knew she should just leave. That Liara didn't want to talk to her, and that she should just let it be. She should go pick up Erra from the sitter, take her home, and forget she'd ever known Liara. She couldn't get her feet to move, though, couldn't get her eyes to shift away from the two women sitting so damn close. Couldn't stop the memories of sitting curled beside the other woman on her couch, staring out at the towering buildings of Nos Astra and not having to say a word. Those memories led quickly to the ones where Liara would suddenly scoot away, pull her knees to her chest and not look at her the rest of the night. She shook her head, knowing it was better not to think about it. She waited too long to tear her eyes away though, because when she looked back both women had their eyes trained on her. Liara said something, smiled so brightly the lights seemed to dim, and waved her over.

Teiron wanted to refuse. She didn't want to meet _another_ of Liara's lovers. Shepard she could handle. She'd never had any doubts that she could compete with Commander Shepard, Savior of the Citadel, but she didn't want to meet this sickly asari that had stolen Liara's heart. It wasn't fair.

She walked slowly over to them.

"Hey, I didn't think you'd be back so soon."

"Neither did I, but I sometimes forget that I can count on other people." She stood and gave Teiron a hug which was returned awkwardly. Then she glanced at the woman still sitting and smiled at her, and though Teiron had been convinced her stomach could not sink any further, it did.

"You...uh...you haven't introduced me to your friend," she managed to say without her voice cracking.

"Oh!" Liara laughed, her cheeks flushing. The woman on the bench smiled, and though it was probably meant to be friendly, Teiron saw it as just predatory. "This is my daughter, Allison. Alli, this is Teiron Riela, an old friend."

"I know, mother," the younger woman said. Her voice was high, almost like a child's, but raspy like it wasn't used much. She coughed, and smiled again, and Teiron saw that what she'd seen as predatory moments before was actually identical to Liara's embarrassed grin.

She wasn't sure if she should feel relieved or guilty, though it was probably both when she really thought about it. She should have guessed it was Liara's daughter. Though their middle child had stayed out of the papers for the most part, there had been a almost three months of coverage when the girl was born. Complications with the birth, combined with a rare neurological disorder had kept the tabloids happy until someone had finally shut them up. The only rumor that hadn't shown up in those few months was that the girl resided somewhere on the AY scale. Looking at her now, it was clear why. "It's a pleasure, um, Allison was it?"

"Likewise," she said.

"We're still on for dinner, aren't we?" Liara asked retaking her seat.

"I...guess?"

"I'm only here for the weekend, but I'm sure I could get us into Carlie's over on Zakera tonight. It will be my treat, for having to leave so suddenly before. I'm sure Erra will love the place."

Teiron's first reaction was to refuse. The truth was she couldn't afford so much as a glass of water at Carlie's, and she wasn't about to make Liara pay for it. Still, the earnest look in Liara's eyes and the small smile on her lips made it difficult to say no. Thinking of the way Erra's face was going to light up when she told her made it impossible.

"I'll see you at seven. Erra's probably killing the sitter, so I should go." She nodded at them, and received a smile in return. She tried to ignore the slight bounce in her step as she walked away.

Allison leaned back on the bench, stretching her legs out to ease the slight twitch they was constantly running along her thighs. "You know mother, most people do not generally invite children out on a first date."

"It is not a date. Now, did you follow what I did with Horus? It is very im-"

"Don't change the subject," Allison laughed, coughing slightly before clearing her throat, "You are taking her to dinner. That's a date."

"I took you to dinner yesterday."

"Do not try dad's logic on me, mother. You are no good at it. Her daughter was already at the sitter, why not just take her for drinks now?"

"Because it is not a date. We are old friends, nothing more. And you need to learn how to handle your contacts without letting them know who you are. The way you jumped when I sai-"

"Old friends my ass! I saw the way she looked at you! And don't think I didn't hear all of dads stories about you two."

Liara sighed, giving up the lesson. Allison was set to take over her mantle as Shadow Broker so that Liara could go on a dig in the Hegemony the following year to look into what remained of the Reapers after they were destroyed. She found that neither she nor her daughter were quite looking forward to the transition. The argument when Allison had found out what her mother did was nothing on what her reaction had been when Liara had told her she wanted her to take her place while she was gone. "Your father had no idea what she was talking about."

"Sure," Allison replied with an exaggerated eye roll. "Don't think I didn't see the way you looked at her either. I may be sick, mother, but I am not dead."

"You will be if you do not learn this. Four operatives have walked by while you were trying to dig up secrets of your mother's love life. Any of them could have an important information that you just missed."

"The first one was the drell in the blue coat. The second was the asari in commando leathers, I think she works for Omega Inc. The third and forth were both human, the man with the sideburns and the flannel shirt and the woman in the...whats that called? A french braid? Wearing a purple dress. The turian on the veranda up there is also one of your agents, did you forget him? And if I could find out if they had information or not just by looking at them, then I'd have to kill them for being very poor operatives. They shouldn't know who we are."

Liara laughed, "Sometimes I forget how much like your father you girls really are. She never ceased to amaze me with what she could see when I thought she wasn't paying attention. You're too much like her."

Allison snorted, but it turned into a raspy cough. "I'm going to go lay down. Come wake me when you get back from dinner? I want to hear all about it...even if you are dragging the girl along."

Liara watched her go, remembering the day, almost a week after she'd been born, that she'd finally been able to hold her. Remembering the doctors quiet words that she probably wouldn't see the end of her first decade. Wondering exactly how she'd ended up so much like her father.

Wondering if this really was a date.

Wondering if she wanted it to be date.

She stood, smoothing the creases on her dress, and didn't bother to hide the smile that blossomed on her lips.


	3. Chapter 3

"No, I'm going to carry it," Allison yelled, trying to yank the box from Illira's hands.

"You're too little, I'm going to carry it." Illira lifted the box up out of her sister's reach and strode down the hallway.

"That's unfair! Mommy! Mommy, Illira's being mean!" Allison put on her best pout and directed it to her mother who had just walked into the house.

Liara sighed and shifted the baby on her hip. Illira was really too old to be treating her sister like that. Kiyett drooled on her shoulder and gurgled happily. At least one of her children behaved themselves. She didn't think about how the girl had been a crying mess all the way from the doctor. "You can put it away when we're done playing, Alli." She stroked a hand along the smooth edge of her daughter's crest, and frowned at the slight inflammation around the second umbilical scar on her neck. "Did Daddy give you your medicine today, baby?"

"'M not a baby," Allison grumbled, "but yeah."

"She's been scratching at it whenever she thinks I'm not looking though," Shepard tattled, coming around the corner and placing a soft kiss on Liara's cheek before taking the baby from her arms. "Isn't that right?" she cooed to Kiyett, "While you were off being poked by big scary needles your sister kept running off into the corner to scratch when she knows very well it's not good for her. Yes, she does."

The baby laughed, shoving drool covered fingers up Shepard's nose. Allison glared at her father, but seemed unable to come up with anything to say in her own defense. Shepard smiled at her and moved her youngest daughter to her hip. Allison frowned back, crossing her arms. At twelve she did a fairly good imitation of her elder sister's pre-adolescent moodiness.

"It's itchy," she finally said, deciding that was a good enough excuse to scratch.

Her parents smiled at her, shaking their heads and she knew she was in for a lecture. Only it didn't come. As they turned to each other rather than tell her once again how important her health was, Allison used the distraction to run into the other room.

"How'd she do?" Shepard asked Liara, following Allison into the small office where Illira had already set up the game board.

"She cried most of the way home. But the doctors say she's doing great, nothing to worry about. I have to take Allison in next week."

"I'll do it." She settled on the floor next to the girl in question, setting the baby in the space between her crossed knees. She'd never been so thankful for the Cerberus implants as when she found out that her joints weren't being affected by her advancing years. She didn't feel like she was well into her fifties, and she'd been told she didn't look a day older than 35. "We'll make a day of it. If you don't mind spending all day alone with the munchkin."

"All day with the only one of our children that still naps? Sign me up for that," Liara laughed, taking her place beside Illira. "Now, what did I agree to play this morning?"

"Monopoly!" Illira shouted, grinning madly. Shepard joined her, the smile she shot Liara almost wicked.

Liara almost groaned at her eldest's enthusiasm. Illira seemed to run hot and cold these days, much more so than she had the first time Liara had raised her, but Liara would never complain about her daughter being happy. Illira's markings, and her infant mind, had been identical to the daughter Liara had given birth to, alone, after the war, but the daughter she had now only occasionally reminded her of the woman she'd left on a beach in Florida almost a quarter century before.

"Alright, teach me."

With ever-increasing volume and excitement Illira and Shepard spoke on top of each other as they taught Liara the basics of the game they both loved. Allison listened intently, having played once or twice before but always losing dramatically. With a flourish, Shepard double-tapped the center of the game board and it flashed '5 - 6', and so the game began.

Hours later Liara had discovered two things. Mainly she'd become aware that the game was much more complicated than Shepard's quick overview had led her to believe, and she supposed as a subset of that, 'Monopoly' was a misnomer.

Though Illira and Shepard freely traded amongst themselves and Allison, often at a loss, they had quickly surpassed Liara and the 'hoard it all' strategy that she'd adopted.

Secondly, she was finding that the game took forever.

Kiyett had fallen asleep on her father's lap perhaps forty minutes earlier, and since then the game had hardly progressed. It wasn't until Allison started to nod off and kept randomly hitting buttons on the game's interface that Shepard called an end to it.

"Alright, ladies, bedtime." Liara had to fight back the urge to complain beside her daughters.

"Ten more minutes," Illira demanded.

"Someone has school in the morning, and it's already almost ten. Brush your teeth. If you're good, maybe we can convince Mom to play again this weekend." Shepard shifted the baby, careful not to wake her, and stood, ushering her elder daughters down the hall to the large bathroom. Liara followed, figuring leaving the game up until Saturday wouldn't interfere much with Shepard's work in the room.

In the bathroom, Shepard had Kiyett against her shoulder, the baby blowing spit bubbles in her sleep. She stood behind the older girls watching with false solemnity as they got ready for bed. She joined them, briefly, and extracted the sleeping infant from Shepard's arms. As she put the child down to sleep, she could hear the muffled laughter as Shepard, now free of their youngest child, teased her other daughters.

She rejoined Shepard as she was tucking the girls in. They passed in the doorway, hands brushing slightly. She sat on the edge of Illira's bed, Allison already fast asleep in the other. Shepard hadn't understood why, with so much of the house empty, she'd insisted on having all their children share a room after they stopped nursing, but that was simply how it was done. There was no real way to explain it to someone who'd grown up in a culture that put such an emphasis on the individual. To most asari, though, being alone, especially at night, was a punishment. While Liara had never cared for the company of her peers, she, and to some degree her mother, had always written that off to being an only child.

"Mom?" Illira asked as Liara bent down to kiss her forehead.

"What is it Beanstalk?"

The girl smiled at the old nickname and snuggled deeper into her pillow. "Are you happy?"

The question shocked Liara, and she couldn't stop the surprised look that crossed her face. "Happier than I've ever been. Is something wrong?"

"No. But Jea'ni at school...her dad died and...most of the other kids they don't even have their dads around. And Dad's gonna die sometime, and...doesn't that make you sad?"

"It's a curse we bear, baby girl. It makes me sad when I think about it, but each of you carry apart of her in you, so even when she's gone, she'll still be around. And she's not going anywhere for a while if I can help it. Don't you worry about it, okay?"

Illira nodded and sighed. "'M not tired," she yawned.

"I know, but sleep anyway. Goddess protect you, baby girl." She kissed her forehead again, tucked the blankets around the girl's shoulders and then did the same to Allison, who was already snoring softly.

She felt strong arms encircle her waist as she backed out of the room and turned off the light.

"She's getting kind of morbid. Is that normal?"

"She did it before, only you weren't around to be the object of her morbidity. I did it too. It is fairly normal when you know you'll outlive everyone you care about. She'll forget it tomorrow, and then remember it again. It's healthy. It was hard, though, when you were gone." Liara leaned back against Shepard's chest, remembering exactly how hard it had been to talk to Illira the first time she'd raised her. How she'd tried so hard to hide her tears, and had failed time and again.

"I'm here now, so wanna try for number four?" Shepard grunted dramatically as Liara's elbow made contact with her stomach, but they were both smiling as they walked away from their sleeping children.

* * *

Erra squealed delightedly, circling the board with her pieces and landing on a scoring space. She grinned and moved her scoring token forward three places, lengthening her lead against the adults.

"I'm fairly certain," Liara said, grabbing her drink from the counter and leaning back on the sofa cushions, "that your daughter is cheating."

"I think I might have to agree with you," Teiron laughed.

Liara eyed the board critically. She'd been playing The Matriarch's Climb since she was a child, and knew that Erra's lead wasn't as big as it appeared. With a decent roll she could probably catch up with her in two turns. Teiron was even closer, but the location of her pieces would require a more delicate roll. The subtlety of the game was something Liara had always loved; the fact that on the surface the game was simple enough for a child of ten to understand but complicated enough that games between masters could take hours, if not days. She'd heard it compared to chess, in that regard, though Shepard had always said it reminded her of Parcheesi. It wasn't like either of them, and was strangely similar to both.

It was also the reason Liara was an archeologist.

Her mother had owned a whale bone set that dated back some seven or eight thousand years that Liara had stumbled across sometime in her early teens, perhaps a little before. The game was the oldest asari board game known, and despite rapidly advancing technology the game was one of the few that was still normally played with physical pieces – even if they were made of plastic and not bone. One of the game's dice was numbered, but the other was inscribed with twelve pictographs. As a child Liara had found them utterly fascinating, and though her mother had never let her play with the ancient set that was probably still collecting dust in some unused room of the estate, they had sparked her interest in Thessia's past and from there into the Protheans.

She smiled to herself as Teiron grabbed the oversized dice that Erra's Junior Edition had, remembering her undergraduate class in ancient linguistics.

The pictographs on the die that Teiron tossed across the table were symbols from the earliest known written asari language. Like the human's Rosetta stone, this game had been the key to unlocking much of Thessia's early history.

And that, she told herself, was why she enjoyed these evenings in Teiron's tiny apartment. Erra's exuberance and Teiron's quiet smiles that still looked so much like Shepard's but caused a different kind of ache than they had on Illiu-

She cut off that train of thought with another sip of her juice, watching as Teiron made a quick turn about the board, but netted only a single point. She would not hurt her friendship with Teiron this time. It meant too much to her. She'd never had many friends before Shepard and the Normandy crew, and as they had all passed on, she'd never taken the time to make more. Grunt and Wrex, EDI, they were all that were left now, and she rarely had occasion to speak to any of them. It had been luck that she'd heard Horus' voice and wondered why her agent was on the Presidium when he was supposed to be watching the red sand dealers in the Wards, and had spotted Teiron. It had amazed her how easily their friendship had been rekindled, and so if she had to deal with all of her daughters teasing her mercilessly, then so be it. She'd gotten in over her head before, and they hadn't spoken in years. It would not happen again.

And, she thought with a silent sigh, it wasn't like Teiron was still interested anyway. She'd moved on. Even if Erra's father wasn't in the picture anymore, it wasn't as if Teiron had spent all this time waiting for her. That was the sort of romantic, foolish idea Shepard would think up.

Liara took the dice from Teiron when she was handed them, her fingers brushing the other woman's palm. She ignored the flutter in her stomach, and eyed the unnumbered die. In the set her mother had bought her as a child learning the meaning of the symbols had been one of the most difficult parts of the game, but this one had a short, simple definition printed beneath each symbol. The symbol for the Goddess looked up at her. It was the most powerful symbol in the game, and with the right number on the second die could allow the player an almost instant win. On the other hand, with a low roll of the numbered die, a player in the lead could easily find themselves struggling.

Eying Erra with a playful glare she tossed the dice onto the board.

"Now who's cheating," Erra whined as Liara nearly caught up to her in points. Teiron barked an admonishment at the girl's tone, but Liara just laughed. Her own girls had, despite Liara's best efforts, picked up Shepard's (and her own, if she was to be perfectly honest) penchant for being slightly flip as well as her marine's tongue. The former had earned them a laugh, and was currently being employed to tease their mother about her relationship with Teiron. The latter had taught them that soap didn't taste very good, and had taught Shepard to watch what she said even when she thought no one was listening. Erra throwing her own teasing back at her was hardly something she'd consider in need of censure. She was not, however, the girl's mother, and quickly bit off the laugh on the off-chance that Teiron was actually upset.

She wasn't, and the game continued. A few decent rolls, a bit of dumb luck and not as much skill as she'd like, and Liara soon caught up, and almost surpassed, Erra on the scoring ladder. Teiron watched them both, already resigned to not coming anywhere near winning. She found that she could get used to this; thought perhaps she was getting too used to this. In the eight weeks since they'd had dinner Liara had shown up for evenings like this a dozen times. She'd taught them how to play various Earth games, and in return Erra had taught her some crazy card game she'd learned in school. It was comforting, and Teiron found herself checking the mail on her omni-tool much more than she should, looking for the next time Liara would be on the Citadel.

She hated herself for it, and had done her best to stop. Illira 'accidentally' being on a call with her mother and acting surprised at how often Liara had been back to the station didn't help matters. Nor did the young maiden's pointed looks. She had no desire to restart what they'd never had on Illium. It was enough that they could be friends.

She'd been telling herself that for so long that she was actually starting to believe it.

Lost in her own thoughts she almost spilled the dregs of her drink – nonalcoholic unfortunately – when Erra jumped up and shouted. She played off the fumble as a reaction to Erra's scream and put the glass down beside the board. The showing faces of the dice were mediocre at best, nothing to elicit such a reaction from her daughter, but then she saw where her daughter's pieces were. A mediocre roll, but excellent placement. She'd won.

And she was doing a victory dance around the room because of it.

"You can't win if you don't move," Teiron teased, reaching for the dice. With a high-pitched squeak Erra raced back to the table and quickly moved her pieces, and then finally the scoring token, which had crossed the divide of the board from one side to the other. The pieces properly placed, she went back to her victory dance.

"She has gotten quite good at this," Liara observed, eyes tracing the board. "I didn't even catch that she'd taken that corner on her last turn."

"She's better at it than I am, that's for sure. I never had the patience to learn any strategy."

"That would be because you've never had any patience," Liara laughed.

"Guilty. I told you, I'm the worst asari ever born."

Liara looked like she was going say something, but before she could Erra came flying over the back of the sofa and landed on their laps.

"I won," the girl announced, as if she hadn't been making up a song about the fact for the last five minutes.

"Yes, you did. And now it's time for bed." Teiron lifted the girl back to her feet and made her apologize for crushing Liara.

Rather than listen to her mother though, Erra began dancing again, her song, this time, about how she didn't want to go to bed.

"I don't care what you want to do. Scoot. Teeth, pajamas, bed. That order. Move it." Teiron pointed down the hall, and with an exaggerated sigh, Erra slunk away. "I don't think I was ever that difficult," Teiron mumbled once she heard the bathroom door close.

Liara bent down and started cleaning up the board. "No, you were probably worse."

Teiron stuck her tongue out at her and collected the remains of their dinner plates and drink glasses. "Shh, I won't tell if you won't." They laughed, and Liara joined Teiron in the kitchen to help with the dishes. A few minutes later Erra was back, wrapped in a fluffy robe. She stared her mother down but finally dropped her eyes.

"My night light's broken," she whispered, casting a nervous glance at Liara. She shuffled her feet, cheeks flaring slightly purple.

"Okay. Give me just a minute. Leave the hall light on." Teiron kissed the top of her head and patted her shoulder then turned to Liara. "I'm sorry. Um, you mentioned lunch earlier. Tomorrow?"

"That would be wonderful. Do you want to me to take a look? I picked up a thing or two about night lights over the years. You can sneak it out to me, she need never know."

Teiron smiled. "Actually, it's just the bulb, it's been acting up for a while. If you could sit with her while I grab another?"

Liara smiled and wandered back to Erra's bedroom while Teiron went on a hunt for a spare light bulb. The girl was snuggled under her blankets, the soft markings on her face almost glowing from the light in the hall. She stirred a little when she saw Liara, then pulled the blankets up over her head. As she had done with each of her own girls, she sat at the foot of the bed, fingers walking up the side of the mattress. And, just as with her own girls, it sparked a giggle from the figure hiding in the bed.

The blankets came down and Erra sighed. "I know I'm too big for a night light."

"Wanna know a secret?"

The girl nodded slowly.

"I had one until I was thirty, and I got another one after I was on the Normandy."

"Nuh-uh. Really?"

"Really. I learned you're never really too old to want to keep the shadows away. But I also know your mom, and I know she won't let anything in here to hurt you."

They were both silent for a long time, but Erra finally spoke when she heard her mother coming back down the hall.

"I like you, Liara. And not just 'cause my friends think it's cool that I know you."

"I like you too, Erra. Sleep well." She tapped the girl on the nose, smiling warmly at her and got up. She smiled at Teiron, whose face was unreadable as she stood in the doorway.

"Thank you," she said, once the night light was working again and Liara was getting ready to go. She never stayed long after Erra went to bed.

"For what?" Liara asked, slipping her shoes on.

"If you have to ask I'm taking it back." Teiron did her best to feign a hurt look, but it was ruined by the smile that she just couldn't hide.

"I know what it's like to be an only child. The dark looks a lot scarier when you're alone, but I think I did okay, considering. And she'll do even better. Mom like you. I'll see you both tomorrow. Eleven? I leave for Rannoch at two."

"I swear you're the most well-traveled matron this side of the Traverse," Teiron laughed.

"Shepard said I was making up for lost time, once the girls were grown. I think I just like to do everything backwards. I may be overtaking you for worst asari ever," Liara said as she walked through the door.

Teiron laughed, watching it close behind her. It said something, she thought, that it didn't hurt to watch her walk away.


	4. Chapter 4

The hovercar spun once over the estate before coming to a rather rough landing in the front of the main house. The engine wasn't even completely off before Shepard had hopped out of the driver's seat and raced around to the back. Liara came slowly down the stairs, Allison clutching tightly to her shirt. Her smile fell as Shepard pulled a length of PVC pipe and a couple of shopping bags out of the car.

"What is that?" she asked walking up to her bondmate.

"It's my new experiment for Illira. Where is she?" Shepard was almost giddy, the bags swinging on her wrists. She reached up and tweaked Allison's nose, then grimaced when she started to cry. "Sorry," she muttered as Liara groaned and shifted the girl. Liara rolled her eyes and stalked off, Allison still screaming.

Everyday was a gift with Allison. At six, she'd already surpassed all the doctor's expectations, but that didn't make the fact that she cried twice as often as she spoke any easier on her mother. Especially since Shepard was still working in the field for most of the year. She'd been trying to get assigned to a desk job at the embassy since they'd moved to Thessia, but so far the Alliance was unwilling to give her up. Admittedly, Shepard hadn't been putting that much effort into it. The stars had always been her home, before.

Shepard followed Liara into the house, feeling even worse for making Allison cry as Liara deftly undid the child's leg braces and put her down inside the small enclosure in the main common room. The girl's sobs slowly quieted as the braces came off, and by the time she was sitting alone surrounded by her toys her cries had been reduced to the occasional whine. Shepard dropped her purchases on a nearby table and came up behind Liara.

"Hey," she whispered.

"I'm sorry," Liara said, running her palms down her face, "she's just been like this since you left. I'd finally gotten her to stop."

"It's my fault." Shepard tried to wrap her arms around Liara's waist, but the asari took a step forward and out of reach.

"Illira is out back. Something for school."

Shepard nodded, shoulders slumping as she looked at the weary face of her bondmate. It was tough, being away so often, and she knew it was only that much harder on Liara. Allison was not an easy child, even without the additional care she required. Weekly doctors visits, injections four times a day, oral medications that the girl routinely spit out, and the constant worry that a mild cold would cause a sudden relapse in her neurological function was more than Liara should have to bear on her own.

"Look, Liara," Shepard started, reaching out to her, only to be cut off by Liara turning sharply and shaking her head.

"Don't, Shepard. I'm fine. We're fine. Go show Illira what you got her."

She didn't want to leave it like this, but knew better than to press the issue. Once the kids were in bed they'd hash it out. Liara was always more willing to talk when the children weren't around. She gathered up her things, cast one last look at Liara, who just stared back, and slunk out the back.

Illira was stretched out on the grass in front of the koi pond. Strange-purple-and-green-with-way-too-many-fins-native-Thessian-fish pond. She had a digital sketch pad in front of her, her school bag and books spread out in a mess around her on the grass. She was still in her school uniform, feet in the air crossed at the ankle. Shepard stood in the doorway, watching her daughter.

The girl felt eyes on her, and lifted herself up on her elbows and turned. Her face broke out in a smile and she ran for her father, hugging her tightly as she was lifted in the woman's arms

"Hey, Beanstalk. What have you been up to?" The girl was getting too big to be held comfortably, but Shepard was loathed to put her down. More so when she didn't answer, and she felt the wet sting of tears on her neck. "Hey now, what's wrong?"

Illira pulled away and Shepard sat down on the porch swing, Illira on her lap. The girl wiped her eyes, shrugging. "I missed you."

"I've only been gone nine hours. Routine stuff for being a human in the midst of asari," she said, tickling Illira and getting a soft giggle in return. "I don't have to leave again for a month. What happened?"

Illira shrugged again. She didn't want to say how much she hated it every time her father left. She felt she was much too old to be crying over such things, but at the same time, whenever her father left, she simply couldn't help it. "Allison had a bad day. Mom was really upset when I got home from school."

"I can tell, you're still in your uniform," Shepard said, poking one of the grass stains on Illira's white shirt.

"I forgot! I'm sorry! I'll change right now." She went to hop of Shepard's lap, but large, callused hands - her father's hands - stopped her.

"Don't worry about it. Now tell me what happened."

"Nothing. Mom's just happier when you're here. If you go for a long time, after a couple days she's okay, but when you're gone for just a day or two she gets really upset. And if Allison has a bad day too," Illira trailed off and shrugged. "I don't like it when Mom's mad."

"Me neither, Beanstalk," Shepard said, thoughtfully. This was too much. Her family had to come first. In that moment, looking into her daughter's wide, wet eyes, she made a decision. "And you know what? Can you keep a secret?" Illira nodded and looked expectantly into her father's face. "After this next run, I'm not going to have to go away again."

"RE-" Illira cut off her yell sharply, then continued at a whisper, "Really?"

"Really. If they won't let me, I'm just going to leave. I should have done it a long time ago. I'm tired of coming home and finding you've gone and grown up on me." Illira threw her arms around Shepard's neck, hugging her so tight the old soldier felt almost winded. Illira was hugged back, held tightly by a woman who had never thought she could ever be so happy. "Know what else?"

"What else?" Illira asked, her tears gone if not forgotten

"I brought you a present."

"What kind of present?"

"One we have to build. You remember what I was teaching you about velocity on the vid call when I had to go to Tuchanka?" Illira nodded. "Wanna see how fast we can make one of those nasty orange veggies your mom likes so much fly?"

Without so much as a word, Illira was up and off her father's lap. She found the bags and the pipe by the door, and though it was much too unwieldy for her, she did her best to carry it out to the shed where she and her father often worked on small projects when Shepard was home. Shepard followed, concerned a bit about the decision she'd just made to leave the Alliance, but knowing it was the right thing for her family.

That evening, while Allison toddled happily on the porch under the watchful gaze of her mother, Shepard and Illira shot all manner of vegetable across the courtyard with nothing but a length of pipe and an aerosol can. Illira would call it fun, Shepard would call it educational, and Liara called it not just a little dangerous. And when the girls had gone to bed, and the house was quiet, Shepard cornered Liara while she was cleaning up the children's toys.

And she told her what she'd told Illira that afternoon. Told her that something had to give, or everything would break, and she'd never wanted to be a soldier in the first place.

And she hugged Liara tightly as the asari let all the tension that had been building up over the last few years float away. Things weren't perfect. Life wasn't perfect. But this was close enough.

Years later, Liara would never remember that it had been that day when Shepard had finally come home. She wouldn't remember how Allison had spit up her medication all over the kitchen floor. She wouldn't remember the hours of work it took to get the grass stains out of Illira's uniform.

She _would_ remember the blue twinkle of the night-bugs on one of the last warm nights of the year. She'd remember the sound of the neural implant as it connected to the braces on her daughter's legs and let her walk, let her run. She'd remember the sound Allison's laugh. The sound of Illira's giddy screams.

And she'd remember Shepard, the starlight in her hair, Illira at her side and that horrible contraption in her arms. She'd remember the smile on her bondmate's face as the last of the summer vegetables sailed across the courtyard and landed with a messy splat. She'd remember Illira trying to guess how far it went, and what would happen if they used something different to make them fly.

And though the day had been rough, and by the time Illira had gotten home from school Liara had been frayed and broken, looking back Liara could only remember being happy.

* * *

Teiron got up as the door chime rang, casting a dark glare at her daughter. "Finish that, or I'm going to send her away. Do you understand me? It's non-negotiable. Hey, Liara," she added as the door opened. Liara was carrying a large box filled with a few other, smaller boxes that smelled overly spicy and shimmered with grease. It looked and smelled delicious.

"Good evening, Teiron. I apologize for being late. The restaurant was not where I remembered it."

Teiron stepped away and let Liara enter. She spun quickly when she heard the chair in the kitchen move. "Don't even think about it Erra," she barked, then turned back to Liara, walking beside her toward the small dining alcove. "It was probably for the best. Erra convinced the sitter she didn't have homework. If I hadn't run into your daughter on the way home, I'd have been just as clueless. Tell me it gets better?"

Liara put the box down, extracting the take out boxes and opening them. The food looked even better when Teiron could actually see it, and not just the bits that had seeped out around the corners. She reached forward, preparing to grab a stray piece of some white meat from the box, and laughed when Liara swatted her hand away. "The not doing the homework or the lying about it? My girls still lie to me when they haven't done something they know they should have. And I can't even ground them anymore. I'll get the plates."

Liara turned and headed to the small kitchen. Teiron called out after her, "They're in-"

"-the cupboard to the left of the sink. I know," Liara finished for her, rounding the corner and spotting Erra perched on a stool at the kitchen counter brow tight in concentration as she stared at a datapad. "Hello, Erra. What are you working on?" She reached up and grabbed three plates from cupboard, glancing over her shoulder at the girl.

"Math. I hate math. I'm never gonna use it. That's why they have computers," Erra groused, pushing the datapad away and leaning her head in her hands. "Mom says I can't leave the counter until I finish this though."

Liara moved across to where the girl was sitting, reaching above her head to grab three cups, and using that as an excuse to look at what the girl was working on.

"Well, you know, math saved the galaxy once." That wasn't entirely true, but that was what Shepard had told Garrus, in essence. They'd regretted it afterward, the man had been impossible to live with.

Erra snorted, unbelieving. "Yeah," she finally sighed, "but there are letters! And symbols! There isn't even a single number in this question! How can you do math without numbers? And anyway, it's booooring."

"Really? I _might_ have something to show you that just _might_ not make it quite so boring. Maybe we can go see it. I'll go see if I can talk your mom into it. And I'll bring your dinner. I find I think better on a full stomach."

Erra smiled as Liara went into the other room, then frowned again as she looked back at the next question on her homework.

Teiron looked up as Liara came back in, surreptitiously wiping her fingers on a napkin. Whatever it was that she'd brought was amazing. "I'm not sure whether I should be worried that you know where I keep all my dishes. I bet you know what kind of toothpaste I use too."

"Why would I know that?" Liara asked a little too innocently. Teiron grinned at her and took the plates, but didn't answer. "I take it Erra doesn't much care for math," Liara prompted. She sounded almost cautious, and Teiron felt her defenses rise.

"Or science. Or anything that doesn't involve music, really." Teiron paused, and glanced toward the kitchen, her voice rising just enough that she'd know Erra could hear her. "But she's going to study, and do her homework, period."

"I was talking to her, briefly, while I was in there and I think I might be able to help her. I don't-"

"I don't need your help raising my daughter. Thanks for the offer, but I got it," Teiron snapped, unexpectedly. It shocked even her that there was so much venom in her voice, but all she could think was that she should have known better. They were always trying to stick their noses in. No one thought she could do it. They all looked down on her. She'd hoped Liara would be different, Liara always seemed to be different, but in the end they always thought they knew best.

Liara looked at her blankly for second, and then nodded. "I'm not trying to tell you how to raise her. I just thought I could show her something that might make her take it more seriously," she said softlly.

Teiron tried to bank her anger, but it continued to boil, and she could feel the tension building in her body. Part of her knew she was jumping to conclusions, the rest of her didn't care. Liara had no right. Where had she been all these years? Off playing house with Shepard. The perfect goddess-damned woman. And now she decided to step back in and tell her she'd been treating her daughter wrong. It wasn't right. "I've got in handled. I don't need you putting your nose in where it doesn't belong. Erra does just fine. You are not her mother." Or her father. But she didn't say the last out loud. How many times had she held Erra as a baby and wished Liara was the girl's father? Had her bright blue eyes, and those ridiculous brown spots on her face? How dare she inch her way back into her life and then try to take Erra away.

For a minute, Teiron thought Liara was going to start crying. There was a pulling around her eyes that made her remember a hallway, and their last kiss. Tears never came though. She squared her shoulders, and let her eyes drop from Teiron's.

"You are right. I am sorry. It's um, based on a quarian recipe, but most of the ingredients are from Earth, if Erra asks. And there's uh, verili in Thessian honey, too. I know how much you like them." She wrung her hands, clearly deep in thought, and then raised her eyes again. "I'm going back to Thessia. Allison's been having a rough few weeks, and I need to be there in case she has to go back into the hospital. I...didn't mean offend, or to overstep."

She reached out and put a hand on Teiron's shoulder, then walked out the door. Teiron watched her go, her anger fizzling as she did. Thinking back on the conversation she wasn't sure exactly what had set her off. It had been a bad day all around, but that was no excuse. It was done now. She'd call Liara that evening, they'd talk, everything would be fine.

Of course everything would be fine.

They were friends.

She piled the thick, chunky takeout onto a two of the plates and made her way into the kitchen. She took the stool beside Erra and pushed one of the plates towards her. A peace-offering.

"Where's Liara?" Erra asked, looking up from the problem she'd been working on.

"She went home," Teiron answered, unsure how to explain her sending away the best role model Erra had in her life.

"I'm almost done, Mom! Why'd you send her away? We were gonna play cards!" She pouted. "And she said she might know a way to make this easier. I. Just. Don't. Get it." She huffed, and pulled her dinner closer, taking a tentative bite. "What's in it?"

Liara could have answered that question. Liara would have answered that question. And she'd have done it without getting angry that Erra was trying to avoid eating anything good for her. She'd have done it with a smile, and a joke. She'd have found a way to make Erra eat it, even when she didn't want to.

The bottom line, Teiron figured as she poked at her own food and tried to figure out an answer, was that Liara was a damn good mother, but a better friend. She never did step on Teiron's toes. Never questioned a punishment, or when Teiron reneged on one. She didn't let Erra get away with anything, but she did it in such a way that Teiron was never left feeling like she was taking over.

Until this evening.

Only, she'd hadn't tonight either. She'd only been trying to help. The anger was still there. That Liara thought to make plans without consulting her first. Only, she hadn't done that either. But, really, Teiron thought, what had upset her was that Liara hadn't attempted to fight back. She'd accepted it.

And left.

"Mom?" Erra questioned when Teiron still hadn't answered her earlier request to know what she was eating.

"I don't know," she sighed, "I don't know."

Dinner suddenly didn't taste quite so good.


	5. Chapter 5

**Because I just can't leave Teiron upset. I believe it is a physical impossibility on my part.**

* * *

Garrus straightened, his eyes searching for what he knew had to be lurking around the corner. With practiced ease he moved forward slowly, softly, his feet not making a sound on the gravel beneath them. He spotted his target coming around an old, gnarled tree to his left, and braced himself. He hadn't been seen yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time. He was being searched for, that much was clear. He sidestepped a kiddie slide, using a low-lying bush as cover.

"Aunt Shepard!" Kiel yelled, launching himself from the backseat and toward the human woman who had just appeared in the doorway to the house they were parked in front of. He ran, his sister following close on his heels. Garrus had mixed feelings about his son. He'd recently gained his citizenship, and was sporting the blue Vakarian face paint, but he was still such a child. Pride, though, outweighed his worry about what would happen to his son. The teen's scream caught the attention of Garrus' prey, and distracted the elder turian enough that he was caught off guard when a small blue child catapulted into his arms.

"Well, I guess I lose this one," Garrus laughed, swinging Illira up into the air. "How's my favorite asari?"

"I thought Mom was your favorite asari?" the girl giggled, planting a kiss on his damaged mandible. He missed his own children being this small. Admittedly, Illira was six months older than Kiel if the adoption agency had his birthday right, but when they'd picked him up eight years ago, he'd been about her size. She had still been in diapers. Garrus was fairly sure he'd never understand asari aging, and wasn't entirely sure he wanted to.

"_Your_ mom? Never. Your Poppi maybe, she's pretty cool. Still think you're my favorite, though." He looked away and spotted Shepard being attacked by his own children.

He would have liked to say that when he caught sight of her he took in stride. He would have liked to say that he just went with the flow and accepted it. He couldn't. He didn't. He laughed.

"Shut your mouth, Vakarian, or I'll have Williams kick your ass." It was supposed to be threatening, he was sure, but it just made him laugh all the harder.

The thing was, she was wearing a dress.

Not the short dress Kasumi had forced her into ages before, and had promptly burned as soon as the thief had left the ship, but a light, flowing white thing printed with flowers.

Flowers.

Commander Shepard was wearing a dress with flowers on it.

He had to put Illira down because he became increasingly worried that he was laughing hard enough to drop her. His children were looking at him strangely, and he couldn't really blame them. They didn't know the Shepard he did. He had once seen a young woman on the Citadel try to entice her inside a store, a place that sold various human clothes targeted at young women. The only reason, Garrus was sure, that Shepard hadn't punched the woman in the nose was because they were in public. And now she was wearing...that.

"What's so funny Uncle Garrus?" Illira asked, eyes all scrunched together in confusion. He smiled at her, and did his best to get his laughter under control. He caught Ashley's eye, and she smirked at him. She had to be just as amused as he was, and he hated her as much as he loved her for her control.

"Nothing, kiddo. Just not used to your dad out of uniform."

"Ooooooh," the girl replied as they all filed into the house, Shepard casting dark looks back at them. Though really they were all for Garrus. "Why is that funny?"

"It's not. It's really not," Ashley said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Your Uncle Garrus just has a very strange sense of humor."

That appeased her enough to keep her from asking any more questions as they joined her parents in the large common room that dominated the estate's main house. Liara was sitting on the floor, young Allison in front of her. Garrus' reaction to the girl was close to what his original reaction to seeing Shepard in a dress was. He couldn't really believe he was seeing it. Rather than laughter though the sight of Allison brought tears to his eyes and a warm smile.

"Look at her!" Ashley gushed, rushing over to sit beside Liara. Seeing the three women together Garrus could see the effect Shepard's implants had. He supposed being with an asari, and having asari children, made the fact that she hardly looked any different from when they have served together nearly two decades before a good thing. Personally, he enjoyed bickering with Ash about how their eyesight was going. He liked the way her fringe changed color, though it was hardly enough to notice unless you got really close. He liked the lines around her eyes and the way they became more pronounced when she smiled. He was irrationally glad that Ashley aged with him.

He lowered himself down beside Liara and his wife. Allison pushed herself up onto her feet, and Ashley cooed like she had when Heidi had been a baby. He had to restrain from doing so himself. The last time they had seen her, Allison had just been fitted for her leg braces. She'd had a tangle of wires coming from the back of her head taped to her skin and then connected to the braces on her legs, and another set going to her arms. Today, she looked like a normal three-year-old. That she was six, Garrus figured, had more to do with her being asari than with the problems with her spinal cord.

Her legs glowed where they had surgically implanted synthetic neurons. The wires that had run along her body were gone, attached now to her spine. Shepard had said this wouldn't be her last surgery, but the fact that she had survived, and thrived with, this one greatly increased her chances at a somewhat normal life. He had never been happier for his friend.

"She looks amazing," he said.

"She is amazing," Shepard answered, joining them and swinging the small girl into her lap. "She hasn't cried once since the surgery." Liara gave her a look Garrus was all too familiar with, he got it quite often from Ashley, and Shepard quickly backtracked. "She's cried a lot less since the surgery. She's still not talking as much as Illira at her age, but she doesn't get as frustrated as she used to either. She's my little fighter." Shepard tossed her in the air, then put her on the floor, tickling her. Happy squeals filled the large room.

The sound drew the older children back, and it wasn't long before several conversations had spring up independently. Liara and Ashley were discussing the finer points of children's clothing, Kiel was showing off holos of the day he graduated boot camp. He started in with the 82nd in two weeks, and Garrus had never been more proud of him, no matter how much he worried for him. Heidi was bewitched with Allison, who was apparently trying to use his daughter as jungle gym. He watched them a moment, knowing he'd have never thought such a scene was possible the day Shepard had blown him off in regards to his desire to help her track down Saren. Who would have thought that this woman, his best friend, had once tried to kick both him and Tali from her ship. He chuckled as he turned to Illira, thinking about how Wrex had been the only one of her non human crew until Liara that she hadn't tried to find some way to get rid of, even if she hadn't been overly friendly with him. Not that Wrex had been all that friendly back then anyway. What a difference an asari makes.

"Don't feel like helping Heidi keep your sister occupied?" he asked, letting his reminiscing fade away.

Illira shrugged. "She's really annoying." She looked up at him, and quickly added, "Allison. Not Heidi."

"Well, truth be told, Heidi can be fairly annoying too. I haven't been able to sleep past five since Kiel left because she keeps waking me up," Garrus whispered to her conspiratorially. She smiled at him and scooted closer to him on the floor.

"Did Dad tell you about the gun we made?"

"Your mother let you build a gun?" That was new. He knew that Liara wanted her daughters to be able to protect themselves in the event they were up against something their biotics couldn't handle, but building a gun at...he stopped and looked closely at Illira. She was nearing her 17th birthday, but if he had to put a turian age on her, he'd say she was no more than eight or nine. He'd taught his own children gun safety at that age, but to actually build one...

"Yeah. It shot vegetables!" Oh, that explained it.

"Bet I could make it work better," he said, loud enough that he was sure Shepard could hear him even over the sound of his son.

"Really?" Illira asked, awed. She sat up straighter and grinned widely. He couldn't even get an answer out before she'd grabbed his hand and drug him across the house, out the back and to a small shed where the length of pipe lay against a wall.

"Hmph," he said, looking at it. "Doesn't even have a proper scope." He inspected the barrel. "And how can she expect to hit anything with this? A shotgun probably has better accuracy."

"It shoots vegetables, Uncle Garrus. You're not gonna go hunting with it," Illira giggled.

"Bah, and that's why you can't buy a decent gun anymore. Sit down, let me teach you how it's done. And have your parents told you about the time I calibrated the gun that saved the galaxy? No? Well, they'd been acting crazy funny for weeks, and had hidden themselves up on the Citadel."

* * *

Teiron was not at all sure whether to be upset or not that the verili was delicious. She'd known it would be. That it would probably taste just like her mother's. It was a close second. And yet, the fact that she was enjoying it made her feel mildly ill. She'd been unable to reach Liara the evening before to apologize. And the Goddess knew she needed to. She hadn't slept a wink, had gotten up that morning and used one of her very precious sick days and had not moved from the sofa since. She probably needed to go pick Erra up from school soon, but she just couldn't find the energy to do so.

She drug another of the fried dough sticks through the mostly congealed honey at the bottom of the take out box and plopped it in her mouth.

Maybe she should have left a message.

She probably should have left a message.

She'd thought about it, seriously, but hadn't wanted to seem...she didn't know what she didn't want to seem like. Like an angry lover, maybe. She knew where their relationship stood, and she was happy enough with it, and she shouldn't have jumped off the deep end like she had over the tiniest of provocations. It was utterly foolish to be feeling like this now. If Liara was upset at the way she acted, it wasn't like there was anything she could really do about it if she was screening her calls. She knew she needed to get up and just deal with it, but it was so damn hard. She'd probably destroyed the best thing in her life. She knew she'd destroyed the best thing in her daughter's life. And over nothing more than a perceived slight. A slight that she knew, intrinsically, wasn't there.

She eyed the now-empty takeout box and groaned. Real smart, finishing off the entire thing in the course of an afternoon. She tossed the box haphazardly onto the coffee table and slid farther down on the sofa.

She stood slowly, feeling her muscles complain at being used again after not moving for what had to be close to two hours. She stretched, sighed, and hated herself even more. She was better than this. Better than just sitting around wallowing because Liara-Goddess-damned-T'Soni didn't answer her calls.

The door chime rang. She looked down at herself, the wrinkled clothes, the honey smear on the cuff of her shirt. Goddess, she was a mess. Maybe Liara had been right to question her ability to parent, she clearly needed a parent of her own right now. She tried to wipe the sticky residue off her shirt as she went to answer the door. It was probably the sitter with Erra. Except, she'd called the sitter, told her she didn't have to come that day. Maybe it was old Mrs. Jenkins, from next door. She always seemed to know when Teiron was having a bad day. Elderly humans were awesome, she thought with a grin. Mrs. Jenkins usually brought sweet baked goods filled with chocolate. Chocolate was, in Teiron's limited experience, the best human food ever.

Only it wasn't the venerable Mrs. Jenkins at the door. Nor was it the sitter. Erra zoomed past her as the door opened, but it was Liara that caught Teiron's eyes.

Liara held up her hands before Teiron could open her mouth. "Illira let the class out early, and Erra mentioned you were home. I won't stay." She turned to go, but not before she took in Teiron's disheveled state. Teiron saw the worry in her friend's eyes, and felt even worse for how she'd acted the night before.

"I thought you were going to Thessia," she said, gesturing for Liara to come inside. The 'I'm sorry' she wanted to say catching in her throat.

"The shuttle leaves this evening. I'm sorry for last night. I didn't mean anything by it. You are doing a wonderful job with her. I do not...I wanted..." Liara sighed, shoulders sagging, and followed Teiron inside.

"It's all on me, I get defensive. I was an ass last night," she sighed. "I tried calling." She tried to keep her tone from becoming accusatory, but if Liara was here, why hadn't she answered her calls. "You can hit me, I deserve it."

Liara stared at her in confusion, the two of them moving to the living room. "Oh! I was going to tell you yesterday," Liara said suddenly, rubbing a hand over her forehead. "My number has changed. A reporter got a hold of my old one and broadcast it over one of the local Earth channels. Even if I did not speak seven different human languages, one would think they would know that I have a translator. The things they said..." She shuddered in revulsion.

Teiron bit her lip, considering the implications. Liara wasn't angry. She'd probably thought Teiron the biggest cad for not trying to call. "I...oh. Well, you can still hit me all the same. I know you only have Erra's best interests at heart, but it's so damn hard. I see people watching me, watching her, knowing I can't give her what she deserves. I'm hardly the best thing for her, I know, but I'm her mother."

"I've said it before, Teiron, you are a wonderful mother. Better than I was, better than I am. I didn't have an idea of what I was doing. I have three grown daughters and I'm barely out of the my maiden years. I..." She sighed, wringing her hands. "I will admit, I find myself enjoying your company. Her company," she added quickly. "I do miss my own girls at that age."

"We're a pair, aren't we," Teiron muttered. "Thanks for bringing her home, I was...I haven't exactly been myself today."

"Are you alright? You look a little ill, though some of your color is returning."

"We're okay?" Teiron asked and Liara nodded, confused. "Then I'm fine."

Liara smiled but was prevented from speaking by Erra suddenly returning. "Mom?" she said timidly, clutching a datapad to her chest. Liara tilted her head toward the door, and Teiron desperately wanted to stop her, but turned to Erra instead. Two minutes later she was out in the hall, running Liara down.

"Liara!" The younger woman turned, waiting at the elevator.

"You still up for showing Erra whatever it was you wanted to last night? I can't say I was ever that great in math either," Teiron said with a shrug, shoving her hands in her pockets and rocking back on her heels.

"Of course. Is everything all right?"

"If failing a math test is all right, then yeah. I guess I could use some help with her." Teiron expected the words to sting more than they did. She did need help. As much as she'd tried to do this herself, as much as she wanted to be everything for her daughter, she knew that Liara could give her daughter this. She knew that Liara could teach Erra things that Teiron couldn't even begin to comprehend. Liara seemed to teach _her _things all the time. Like to control her temper.

Half an hour later they were standing in Liara's apartment on the Presidium. The place wasn't large, Teiron thought, or maybe it just seemed that way because of the giant conference table that took up the entire front room. The place looked unused. The only personal item Teiron could see was a large, brown book sitting pride of place on the mantle. There were no holos, no paintings, not so much as a dirty coffee cup in the sink. Liara's apartment on Illium had been stark, always tidy, like a model home, but though Teiron knew that she stayed here when she was on the Citadel, this place had a feeling of vacancy that the relic filled place in Nos Astra never had.

Liara went into the back, searching for whatever it was she wanted to show Erra, and left the two of them alone in the front room. Erra seemed drawn to the table, but Teiron gravitated toward the book. It was wrapped in dried animal skin, not an uncommon thing, even among the asari, but it was a color Teiron wasn't familiar with. It could be dyed, she figured. She stopped herself from touching it, suddenly aware she was not well versed in human death rituals. She knew humans had a strange obsession with mementos, and that making picture albums for significant moments in their lives was fairly common. She worked for a large retailer that catered to humans after all. Was it common for humans to have themselves skinned and turned _into _ such mementos when they died?

The thought turned her stomach. She hoped it was just dyed varren hide and rejoined her daughter.

Erra was tracing something on the table, and as Teiron looked over her shoulder she saw the table was covered in an intricate, very tiny, hand. It looked a bit like graffiti, but she didn't know many mercs or gangs that would write differentials onto an old conference table. Intermixed between the equations were things like 'I am Commander Shepard, and I hate the Citadel,' and 'Reapers, feel the wrath of my pencil!' above a drawing of a cuttlefish being poked in the backside by a fairly primitive looking writing instrument. The table had been covered in a clear coat, the writing underneath preserved.

"What is all this mom?" Erra asked, but Teiron could only shake her head. She didn't have the vaguest idea.

There was a triumphant yell from the back of the apartment, and a moment later Liara came back out carrying a small box.

"For a moment I was afraid I'd taken it back to Thessia," she said, setting it down on the table and lifting the lid. "Shepard made these for the girls when I was pregnant with Illira. They're a collection of tricks and sayings. They were added to over the years, as the girls got older." She looked away from Erra, and met Teiron's eyes. "I have a few others I pulled out." She handed a stack of small electronic cards and single cube to Teiron. "You might want to wait to give her those." Teiron turned the cube over in her hand, and if she hadn't been over four hundred years old and an asari, she'd probably have blushed.

"That helps someone understand math?" she asked incredulously, turning the cube 90 degrees to look at it from another angle. "Impressive."

Liara shrugged. "According to Illira."

Erra was flipping through the other things in the box. There were cards with the instructions for math games, calculator games, and small poems to help remember terms and rules. "This is cool," she said, sounding like it was anything but. "What's all this though?" She waved a hand at the table.

"Shepard did all that. If you can find out where she started, all of this eventually tells you how to calibrate the galaxy's biggest weapon. It didn't work right, but we eventually figured it out."

"This is the math that saved the galaxy?" Erra whispered, awed.

"Kind of," Liara answered.

It went back and forth like that. The box Liara had brought out forgotten, as Erra had question after question about what was on the table. Two hours later, when they were leaving, Liara with her bags for her trip back to Thessia, Erra was still asking questions.

As they parted ways at the fast-transit system Teiron found herself falling into a pattern she'd had while they had been together, well, not really _together, _on Illium. Perhaps she stood a little too close, perhaps she smiled just a little too much, but Liara didn't seem to mind. There was nothing untoward about it, not really, they were friends. Again. She liked it.

Erra ran back just before Liara climbed into the taxi, throwing her arms around Liara's waist. Teiron shrugged an apology, but Liara just smiled at them both. She looked thoughtful as she climbed into the car and waved as it flew away.

Teiron slung an arm around her daughter's shoulders and they took the long way home. Erra didn't stop talking the entire time they walked, and it wasn't until the door to the apartment was closed, and Erra mentioned she still had homework that needed to be done, that Teiron realised they had spoken of nothing but Liara. And she was okay with that.


	6. Chapter 6

Joker wasn't normally one to make a fuss. Okay, if he was honest with himself, yes he was. But when it came to the Commander and Liara he didn't say much on the matter. Okay, yes he did. It was all in good fun though, they could both appreciate that on a ship the size of the Normandy knowing that two very beautiful women were getting it on upstairs was not something he could just ignore. Especially not after they never let him in on Liara's damn secret. Finding that one out, a couple weeks after he'd pulled their sorry asses out of the burning wreckage of the Citadel had been a sore point. When Williams and Vakarian had both seemed in on it too, well, it was only fair that he get even.

In the months since Shepard had climbed aboard the Normandy carrying a limp, unconscious Liara, Joker had made it his number one priority (after maintaining the Normandy of course) to make their lives a living hell. They deserved it. They walked around all doe-eyed and cute, and completely ignored the fact that they had not only scared the living holy hell out of half the galaxy, they had killed off a race of scary ass mechanical bugs with nothing more complicated than E=MC^2. Honest truth, relativity was probably more complicated than what they did. Not that he knew a damn thing about what they'd done. No one told him anything.

This particular turn of events though, went beyond anything he could even imagine. They'd, what, been married all of three days? Alright, maybe it was more like two months, but that wasn't the point.

"I'm pregnant, I thought you'd want to be the first to know," Liara whispered gleefully, again, when he asked, for a third time, what she'd said. She was glowing radiantly. She always glowed radiantly, in Joker's opinion, not that he thought about it much, or how said baby had been made. With the Commander. No, he was more than happy not thinking about any of that. He'd think about it later. When he was alone.

"You better just be pulling my leg, T'Soni. I mean, shit. Please tell me Shepard knows. She's gonna kick me off my ship if I know before her."

Liara smiled at him, leaning back in the copilot's seat. EDI was floating around the ship somewhere. She might have said something about having to do her hair. Not that that made any sense. "Of course she knows, no one will remove you from the Normandy. I just thought you might like to be the first to know besides the child's _father_," she clarified, "considering how wrong it was of me not to confide in you."

"Huh. So, Vega gets in on 'Back to the Future VII', and I get the daytime soap?" he asked, not really angry. Actually, he's really kind of pleased. He'd always had a soft spot for small squishy babies with their tiny little toes and fuzzy little heads. Though, he guessed Liara's baby wouldn't have a fuzzy head. Tentaclely head, then. He doubted he'd have much liked it if he'd known about the other thing at the time. But Liara's blank look at his pop culture reference was worth the shit he'd get from the Commander for making Liara think he was mad at her. "Never mind. Congrats, I guess. This doesn't mean I have to plan the baby shower does it? I mean, most of the games I know involve booze, and I'm guessing you should avoid that?"

Liara's smile widened and he figured he'd be off the hook with the Commander. "No, I believe that between Ashley and Tali that will be taken care of. Once I tell them. And Vega figured the whole future thing out himself. It scares me a bit that he actually has a brain beneath all the muscle."

Joker snorted. Old-not-fighting-the-Reapers Liara actually had a sense of humor. Who would have guessed. "At least there's that. So, should I get EDI to work on converting some space on the Engineering deck for a nursery? When's the kid gonna pop out?"

That earned him a cold stare, but he figured it probably went over better than the Vaenia joke he'd originally wanted to spout.

"I am due late in the year in 2188."

"21- What the...that's two years away!

"25 months. Well, twenty-three now"

"Shit. Shepard's in for it, isn't she? Wait...are you guys leaving now? Don't leave me with Vega in charge, please don't leave me with Vega in charge."

"We have no plans on leaving for sometime, Joker, but we will eventually. I'll make sure Shepard knows you dislike James, though."

"I never said that! Twisted asari mind games," he muttered.

She got up as EDI was coming back in. Her hair did look different. More black, maybe. Had she cut it? Liara leaned over the back of his chair and whispered in his ear. He stared out at the stars for a long minute after she'd left.

"Did Dr. T'Soni say something to upset you, Jeff?" EDI asked.

"No. No. I just want to know how she knew I was thinking about asking her that."

"Asking her what? I did not hear you pose a question to her before she left."

"If, you know, when she and Shepard go all porn vid upstairs if her tentacles get in the way. They don't, apparently, flop around, though. That's what she just said anyway. Damn it, she's from the future and she can read minds. Why am I the last to know everything!"

* * *

"I thought you said you weren't meeting Teiron this weekend," Illira said with a smile, spearing a cherry tomato with her fork and eyeballing it warily before plopping the whole thing into her mouth.

"I'm not. Erra's at a friend's for the evening and Teiron -" Liara cut herself off before she could give her daughter anymore ammunition to tease her with. If it had been Allison sitting across from her she'd have played the creepy stalker Shadow Broker card, which would have been slightly less embarrassing than explaining that she'd called Teiron up to tell her she'd be back on the station and had been told that with Erra gone for the evening Teiron would be picking up another shift at the store. As it was, though, Illira was woefully ignorant of her mother's secret career, and Liara had no plans on informing her.

"Is currently walking through the door. You know, we didn't have to do dinner. I wouldn't feel offended that my mother came to the Citadel and didn't stop by to see me. Oh, wait, you do that quite often now," Illira grinned.

"Which is why I came here today," Liara answered, using nearly all her considerable willpower not to look over her shoulder and see if Illira was right about Teiron being there.

Was she with someone?

Had something happened at her work?

Why hadn't she called? Had she called?

With what little willpower she had left she most certainly did not look at her omni-tool to see if she had any missed calls. She didn't. Not that she looked. No, she definitely didn't look.

"Uh-huh. And Kiyett? She told me last week she hasn't heard from you in almost a month. She wasn't complaining, mind you, she always said you butted into her life too much."

"She never answers my calls," Liara said distractedly, tilting her head to see if she could catch the reflection of the door in her water-glass. There was a faint reflection of a deep blue, but that could be anyone. At least on Illium Teiron wore clothes that were easily recognizable even if they were nothing but an alcohol induced blur. Her current wardrobe was much too mom-ish, if Liara was being honest.

"Erra mentions you in class quite a bit. Liara told me this. Liara showed me that. You gave her the Secret Box, I hear."

"She left it at my apartment, so she's never actually used it. You failed her, I thought it might bring the grade up." She had originally planned to take the seat Illira was using. Shepard's wariness had rubbed off her over the years, and she rarely sat with her back to the door, but there had been no reason to worry about being ambushed in a cafe on the upper side of the ward. Now she regretted it. At least if she was sitting there she'd know one way or another.

"You make it sound like I did it on purpose," Illira laughed, then raised an arm. "Teiron, over here!"

"Illira, no!" Liara whispered harshly, casting her best 'I'm your mother and you have to listen to me' glare. Illira ignored her and stood as Teiron approached them. She was there. She was alone. She _was_ alone, wasn't she? Liara turned her head slightly, trying to see if there was anyone with her. There wasn't.

"I'm so glad I spotted you, T. Mom drug me down here, and I have all these papers to grade, but I'm much too polite to leave her here alone. My sister is completely unavailable, so you're the next best thing." She ignored Teiron soft protests and guided her into the seat she had just vacated. "Love you, mom, and we'll just have to reschedule. Spelling tests, you know how it is." She grinned wickedly at her mother as she pressed a quick kiss on her cheek. She winked at Teiron then made her way out of the restaurant.

"She, uh, I suppose I haven't been a very good friend to her recently," Teiron said, getting up, "I've been too busy. I won't impose."

"Stay," Liara said, trying her best not to sound like she cared. "I was just abandoned by my daughter, after all."

"Need a shoulder to cry on?" Teiron asked with a smirk, retaking the seat. Liara thought she looked relieved. Of course she didn't look relieved, she was reading into things too much. But she'd been here alone. She could have wanted to stay for no other reason then a little company. That was probably it.

"I'm feeling the need to weep, yes." Liara's tiny smile brought a larger grin from Teiron, and moments later they were both laughing softly.

"She's a character, I'll give her that. She's nothing like you, you know."

"That would be because since she was a child, she's been her father in miniature. Which explains this more that I'd like to admit. I am sorry. You don't really need to stay." Liara said, shrugging. She hoped she looked suitably uninterested in whether Teiron stayed or left. It would not do to have their friendship break down because of her daughter's meddling.

"To be honest, I've got nothing better to do. Ended up having to leave work early; for once Horus over staffed," Teiron said, rolling her eyes. She flagged down a passing waiter, ordered a light dinner, and continued, "I spend so much time with Erra anymore that I really don't know how to behave when she's not around."

Liara forcibly stopped the sigh of relief that threatened to over take her when Teiron didn't leave. She felt foolish, childish. Had she been this bad with Shepard? How in the wide galaxy had she ever had an intelligent conversation with anyone if she couldn't keep her mind on track? They were friends for Athame's sake!

"Well, I think there is an arcade two floors down. That might be more your speed," Liara montioned, a grin tugging at the corners of her lips. She felt Teiron's eyes burning into her and she ignored it. It had been nearly a year since luck had thrown them into each others paths on the Presidium. Most of the time she didn't think of what could have been, what would have been if not for Shepard and her own limitations. Most of the time she didn't think of the smiling young maiden that had told her ridiculous stories while they'd been sitting across a table from each other, flushed and drunk. Most of the time she didn't think about how, besides Shepard, this was the only person who ever let her forget that she had responsibilities much larger than her years. Most of the time.

Today was not most of the time.

She couldn't meet the other woman's eyes. Could barely hear her retort about the types of people who frequent places like the arcade downstairs. She needed to get a hold of herself. She needed to remember who was sitting across from her and why they weren't anything more than what they were. Teiron was not interested. It was as simple as that.

It wasn't that hard to accept the reality of it, and they slipped into an easy conversation. Erra's school work was improving, and with the mid year holidays approaching Teiron was excited at the prospect that Erra would in fact pass despite her rocky start. They spoke of Liara's plans for the upcoming year, her trip into the Hegemony, the paper she'd recently had published that Teiron continued to insist that she would eventually read. Allison's health came up, but they ignored the outburst that had preceded Liara's last trip back home. They spoke of the new vids that were being advertised in every corner of the Citadel. They spoke of the new Salarian Councilor and debated whether he'd be as stubborn headed as the last two had seemed to be. They spoke briefly of Tevos, and her recent retirement from the council. Liara knew things about the last two that would have made Teiron's stomach turn, but she kept them to herself, and their conversation sounded like a regurgitated news vid.

She loved it.

It was eerily similar to the conversations she used to have with Shepard, only those had always devolved into attempts to find the best derogatory word for the council. Teiron didn't seem all that interested in politics, and Liara knew, though she'd never admit it - not that it was stalking, it was just her _job - _that Teiron hadn't signed into the e-democracy in over a decade. She most certainly hadn't had glyph look into her extranet activity. She certainly hadn't had it flag unusual activity from the area Teiron and Erra lived. It had all been just a happy accident.

Dinner finished, they left together. Though the evening was quickly turning into a late night, neither was willing to be the first to leave.

"There's a place around the corner that makes a sorbet out of Risamelon, if you're interested," Teiron said, out of the blue, as they circled the wards market floor for the third time.

"I haven't had Risamelon since, wow, since Illium. I, in all my infinite wisdom, gave my children Shepard's allergy to it."

"You poor thing!" Teiron crowed, grabbing Liara's hand and dragging her down a long hallway. "We have to fix that right now. If you'd said something earlier, honestly! Goddess, all this time, and you never said a word. You need to learn to communicate better." They stopped in front of the tiny store, and it dawned on them both how tightly Teiron was clutching Liara's hand. She let it go, and Liara smiled reassuringly. She was too big a name now for such a thing to bother her, too powerful for it to even make it to the vids, especially since it was completely harmless. Of course it was harmless. "Do you remember that time we ate three of them, back to back. I felt sick for a week," Teiron chuckled.

Liara remembered. She remembered wanting nothing more than to reach over and wipe the sticky orange juice from the side of Teiron's mouth, and knowing that she could not. It was a feeling she'd become used to, though that night it had gotten so strong she'd eventually had to go up to bed, leaving Teiron with the messy dishes and the melon rind. "I think that was actually the last time I ate it. And, thinking back, that might have been the reason why, and not Shepard's allergy. I actually was sick for a few days."

It was an easy thing to order, to continue their walk. By the end of the evening Illira's matchmaking attempts earlier had been completely forgotten, and they walked as friends, laughing and talking and just enjoying the others company.

As the stores began to close, though, and on the Wards that was very late, Teiron finally admitted that she had to go. For the first time since the other woman had taken her daughter's seat, Liara felt a tightness in her chest that she could not move. She waved, watching Teiron walk away, and then rushed forward, unsure why she was running after her, but knowing she had to.

"Teiron?" she said, not knowing what she was going to say, but eternally grateful when the elder woman turned. "Come with me to Thessia." The words were out before she'd even thought them, and she wanted nothing more than to return them to her mouth until she saw Teiron smile.

"Do you think we could get there and still make it back here by eight tomorrow morning? That's when I have to pick Erra up," Teiron said, eyes sparkling at her own joke.

Liara couldn't stop her smile though, "It would be a challenge" she admitted. "I am serious though. Illira mentioned that Erra might be going to camp this upcoming holiday." Actually, Glyph had flagged the transfer of funds from Teiron's account to pay for the trip, but no one needed to know that. Or that the Liara might possibly have rigged the local ward lottery Teiron played sporadically so that she could get the money she'd spent for Erra's trip back. That was all her little secret. "I thought maybe you might enjoy a weekend talking to a grownup. Without having to check your omni-tool every few seconds," she added with a grin, as Teiron did just that. Erra had sent her a message, if Liara read Teiron's face right, but it wasn't a bad one.

Teiron was silent for a long time, eyes darting between the message on her arm and Liara. She finally nodded, and Liara smiled, and Teiron waved, and then they were heading in opposite directions.

Liara didn't know what she intended, if she intended anything at all, but when she turned away from Teiron, there was a spring in her step.


	7. Chapter 7

**So, this chapter ran away from me. And then I thought about not including the bit with Shepard cause it was so dang depressing. And then I had to rewrite it because I had all the dates wrong, and they're still wrong, but not quite as obvious. And...yes...so. It's long. And all exposition-y. And I'm tired now. And still don't know if I should remove the first part because...GAH! Dang you Shepard. . Anyway, onwards. **

**TL;DR: Sorry this is so long (and long winded). **

Liara leaned against the porch railing, watching her bondmate push herself slowly on the swing. They'd bought it a few years back, when Shepard had started having difficulty with the stairs. It was easier for her to come sit here, rather than make her way down to the stone benches that circled the pond. A fish jumped, splashing, distracting Liara for a moment. She looked back, and Shepard was looking at her.

There was little of the young, beautiful soldier that had rescued Liara. Nothing but the eyes. Yes, they were mildly cloudy with repeatedly corrected cataracts. And yes, the skin around then was loose and wrinkled, looking like old leather. But the same intelligence, the same amusement shone out of them. Her hair was longer than it had ever been, shockingly white. The length, according to Shepard, was because she could, because she had no reason not to keep it long anymore. Liara knew better, knew that the retired spectre's thinning hair was a sore point for her.

She moved over to her, running her fingers through the baby-fine threads before leaning over and pressing a soft kiss to one leathery cheek. That was about as physical as they got, anymore. One hundred and ninety-eight years tomorrow, that was how long they'd been married, and time had finally caught up to them. If Shepard had slowed down, if she needed a walker and didn't have any of her own teeth anymore, that didn't make Liara love her any less. If things weren't as physically strenuous as they used to be, Shepard's control within the meld had more than made up for it.

"It's a beautiful day," Liara said, sitting down and tugging Shepard to her so the woman was tucked under her arm.

"Mmn. Yes." Shepard's voice was raspy, like dry sandpaper. Liara mostly thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

"How are you feeling?"

"Mmn, well, I was watching you out of the corner of my eye, and I find I am feeling much better now." She coughed, dryly, then chuckled. She leaned over and whispered in her ear, her suggestions just as lewd as they'd been a hundred years before.

"Shepard! We are outside!"

"You are aware," Shepard rasped, chuckling, "that we could be in the middle of a crowded room and no one would know right? We more or less just stare at each other longingly anymore." Her voice dropped at the end, and Liara knew she was retreating back into herself. She did that fairly often now, ever since Miranda had passed away two decades before.

"Except we are on Thessia, and everyone would know what we were doing." She knew better to bring up Shepard's bouts of depression, though. The last thing she wanted were more denials.

"Promise me something," Shepard said finally, as the light summer breeze picked up.

"Anything I can, you know that."

"Don't mourn me."

"Shepard," Liara whispered. She didn't know what to say. That wasn't something she could promise, Shepard knew that.

"I mean it. I want you to live. These last few years, between me and Allison, I know you haven't had the best time, taking care of us. And...well, Allison had better still be up and giving you hell when I go, but I want you to live. When I stop being a burden, I want you to fly."

"You have never been a burden, Shepard. Don't you dare say things like that."

Shepard chuckled darkly. "I was supposed to go out in a glorious battle you know. Gunned down by something big and scary."

"Shepard, stop it." She wouldn't cry. She did everything in her power not to think about Shepard dying. She knew the woman couldn't live forever, but she was not about to worry about losing her now, not when she was still alive and with her.

"Promise me, Liara. Please. When I go, I just want to know that you'll be happy. I want to know that you won't slink back into you office and never come out. I don't want you to drift away. You have hermit like tendencies, you know."

"I...I can't, Shepard. You know I can't." She was crying. She could feel the tears streaming down her face, and it wasn't fair.

"Promise me, Liara!" And she was herself again. The woman who had stood on the Citadel and killed the thing that Saren had become. The woman who had stared the Collectors in the face and laughed, then blown them up. The woman who commanded armies with no more than a disappointed look.

"I...I..."

"Liara, please." She was begging. Oh, Goddess, she was begging.

"I...I promise Shepard. I promise."

She wept into the long, thin hair of her bondmate. She wept, because she knew she was going to lose her again, and couldn't bear to think about it. She wept, because she knew that she would keep this one, last promise to Shepard no matter how much it hurt.

* * *

It hadn't occurred to Teiron that Armali would be in the middle of its rainy season. As she stepped out of the cab onto the gravel drive she tilted her face up to the sky and let the light rain bathe her and tried to remember the last time she had stood on an actual planet, let alone her own home world. The day her mother had returned to the all, probably. That had been over half a century ago. She'd been on the southern coast, then. Armali sat about three hours from the northern sea, the often called One Sea, and could not be more different from the almost tropical location where she had said goodbye to her mother for the last time.

She rolled her shoulders as the taxi took off, casting one last look at the skyline of the city. Armali was the closest thing to a central capital that Thessia had. Though Serrice was larger, it was also largely a university town despite the presence of a few biotic manufacturing plants. The human embassy was here, the only alien embassy on the home world. The other races had their respective embassies on Lusia. With the exception of the krogan anyway. The krogan embassy was on a small space station on the far side of the relay from Thessia. It had been Shepard's doing, if Teiron remembered the news stories correctly, that had gotten the human embassy moved. It had caused a lot of problems; in general aliens weren't allowed to live for any length of time on Thessia unless bonded to an asari, and the human ambassador had not been so. Neither had most of her staff. The rather amusing compromise had also been fairly obvious. As long as they stayed on the embassy grounds, they were fine, and as such a number of small apartment homes were built on "Earth", or rather the hundred acres that the citizens of Armali voted to let Earth have. Any time anyone living and working in the embassy needed to go shopping however, they had to apply for a new visa. The new quick-approval day visa was created especially for them, and was only available for diplomats and their entourages.

As far as Teiron knew, that hadn't changed with Shepard's passing.

The city was beautiful, even in the gray haze the clouds caused. The towering spires, the glow of the lights, it all spoke of the power of the asari. Her people. For one brief moment she let herself feel a wave a pride for them, and then she turned around.

All she could do was stare. She'd always known Liara came from money. Her mother was Matriarch Benezia after all, who had owned stocks in every major research and development company that even considered going public. Those stocks would have been passed, by asari law, to Liara, even with the questions over Benezia's loyalty to her race and the galaxy. Liara's own work as an information broker on Illium had probably given her a sizable income as well. Knowing about the disparity in their income though, and seeing the result of it, were two entirely different things.

A sea green gravel drive, from a time before the asari discovered mass effect technology and still used wheeled vehicles as normal transport, wound its way up a short hill. It was surrounded by old trees, twisted and gnarled, their leaves hanging limply in the rain. The flaky, orange-gray bark put the trees age at over half a millennium. The building they led to probably dated back twice that.

Asari architecture didn't change much. Most of the buildings in Armali were six or seven thousand years old, but it was hard to tell the older structures from the ones that were only seven or eight centuries old, but this was something completely different.

The main house – and there were at least three other buildings that Teiron could see from her spot at the end of the driveway – was longer than most asari buildings, and looked all the longer because it was shorter as well. Most family homes, which could often hold up to five or six generations if not more if every daughter had their children young enough, stood six stories tall at least. This one was only three at its highest point, and the smaller buildings surrounding it were no more than a single story high. It was disconcerting, but strangely more grand than the larger, towering buildings Teiron had always associated with asari. It was also built of stone, the heavy rocks adding even more age to the already ancient building. It was a material she'd been unaware had ever been used in asari construction.

She felt a weight on her shoulders and wished the taxi was still there. She did not belong here. Here, where the door which swung out on actual hinges probably cost more than she made in a year. Here, where the very ground beneath her feet exuded wealth. This house had stood since before the e-democracy. Since before the discovery of FTL and mass effects. It had existed, most likely, since the first of Thessia's nomadic tribes had settled down. It probably predated the republics.

She did not belong here.

She picked up her bag, and considered calling the taxi service. She could be gone in a minute and call Liara and explain. There had to be a lie she'd believe. She glanced up at the door, deciding to do just that when she saw a figure walk out into the rain.

Liara was beautiful. She'd always known it, but there was something different about her here, in her home. She was wearing a soft yellow dress that stopped just above her ankles, the long, loose sleeves billowing in the wind.

Teiron didn't see that though. She didn't see the white sandals that contrasted sharply against her blue skin. She didn't see that the white widow bracelet Liara had worn since the day they'd been reunited was gone from her wrist. She didn't see the way the dress clung to her curves as the rain slowly dampened it. She didn't see any of it.

She saw the crinkle at the corner of Liara's eyes. The way the blue of them shone in the gray light of the evening. She saw the curve of her jaw, and the way it pulled up. She saw Liara's smile, bright and wide, spreading even further as her eyes met Teiron's across the yard. She saw Liara walking toward her, their eyes never breaking contact, and all of a sudden she did belong. This wasn't her world, but that didn't matter. Just that smile mattered.

"Teiron," Liara shouted over the crash of thunder, "come inside. It's going to start pouring any minute." She took Teiron's bag from her, then grabbed the other woman's hand and practically drug her up the to the house. They barely made it, the sky opening just as Liara shut the door behind them. The light sprinkle became a downpour, a staccato rhythm playing along the windows and the roof.

Teiron ran a hand over her crest, wiping the water that had pooled in the ridges away. She took in the entry way, but her eyes kept coming back to Liara. "Beautiful," Teiron said, and hoped Liara thought she meant the house.

"Make yourself comfortable. I've got you in the bedroom right at the top of the stairs, second floor. I'll take your bag up." Liara wouldn't hear of Teiron taking her bag, told her she'd show her the room after dinner, and was gone before Teiron could say another word.

Left alone, Teiron moved into the common room. Despite the oddity of the homes exterior and basic design, the ground floor was easy enough to understand. Open and airy as was typical even in modern design with large, clear windows opening out onto a central courtyard. She could see the kitchen, partitioned off with a sliding wall. In traditional fashion the dining area was completely enclosed and on the far side of the central sitting room from the kitchen. She ran a hand along the back of the low sofa, eyes sweeping over the furniture, the pictures. A large wood burning fireplace dominated the only free wall, above which hung one of the most beautiful paintings Teiron had ever seen. She wandered over to it, eyes gazing over the triptych, idly musing how much Liara looked like the model the painter used for Athame. The Goddess took center stage, her arms outstretched as she taught her followers, who stared up adoringly. To her left was Jinari standing in a field of crops holding a scythe. To Athame's right was Lucien, hand raised to the stars, the major constellations circling the image. She'd seen a copy of this once, at a museum when she'd been a child. This was the original. It was priceless. It had been done so long ago that the artist's name was forgotten to history. Not an easy feat among asari.

Her eyes skipped over the family photos, resting instead on the artifacts dotting the room. A few she recognized from Nos Astra, most were different. Tucked in one corner was a glass case, an old, large, book inside. She glanced at what the tiny label on the case claimed was a Prothean dining set, then made her way over to the book.

It was a hand copied, hand illustrated Holy Book.

The Holy Book.

The text by which the forms of the Goddess cast aside the pantheon and had helped the asari rise from their lowly origins. Teiron was not a believer. She appreciated the art the old religion had inspired, she understood its place in asari history, but she'd never practiced beyond those holidays that had become secular.

It dawned on her, suddenly, though, that Liara could very well be a follower. The house, the artifacts here, the age of the T'Soni name. T'Soni was the longest living single bloodline still alive. Most of the larger names had been lost with the creation of the republics, breaking into ever smaller and smaller groups until the lineage could no longer be traced. That much, at least, she remembered from school. She could remember her mother mentioning to a friend, when Teiron had been no more than Erra's age, how odd it was that Benezia had chosen political power over following in her own mother's footsteps. Teiron hadn't considered what that meant, she'd been a child, but looking at this room now she wondered. She wondered if Liara was one of the very few that still believed that Athame sat in her home among the clouds and watched them, waiting for the time when she would return. Goddess, she hoped not.

Shaking the thought away she turned her attention to the holos. Shepard and Liara, alone. With their girls. Sitting beside one of just Liara's three daughters was the holo that Teiron had seen in Liara's apartment the night that everything had begun to go wrong. She picked it up, running a finger over a much younger Liara's face, her smile a mimic of the one Teiron had just seen outside.

"I thought we could eat outside. The porch is covered, and besides the rain it's a beautiful night," Liara said, coming around the corner. Teiron started, jumping at the sudden intrusion into her thoughts and fumbled the holo back into its place.

"That would be wonderful," she said, her smile easy. Things were less complicated now. She didn't have to worry about competing against Shepard, of trying to win Liara's affection. She'd never thought she'd be content with just their friendship, had walked away and returned to Thessia specifically because she hadn't thought she'd be able to maintain that friendship without wanting something more. It wasn't always easy, but she was finding that it was worth it.

The rain had slowed somewhat by the time they'd collected everything and retired to the back. There was a small bistro table set up just far enough away from the edge of the porch that, unless the wind took a drastic turn, would be safe from any of the rain fall. It took a bit of juggling but eventually all the dinner dishes and the bottle of Batarian blush that Teiron had no idea how Liara got hold of were arranged on the table. It took a bit more for the two of them to decide where they were going to sit, despite the fact that the small table only had two chairs.

Dinner was simple, made with native foods. Conversation started slow. Teiron couldn't think of anything to say that she wouldn't regret moments later. She couldn't read the looks Liara was giving her, and didn't much care. She finally spoke as Liara poured them both a second glass of wine.

"I'm surprised. I couldn't get you to drink even a Thessian wine, even when I brought the bottle to your place," Teiron said, grinning over the rim of the glass.

"I'm over three hundred and fifty years old, my tastes have changed," Liara grumbled good-naturedly.

"And I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that you ran out of whiskey."

"How did-" Liara started, then glared, sipping from her own glass, "Nothing at all. There is a perfectly good bottle in the kitchen."

"Mmhmm. Sure. It's probably empty." Teiron watched the war on Liara's face, and considered herself lucky to not get food thrown at her. "This is actually surprisingly good for a Batarian wine, they don't normally export anything but that swill water they call ale."

"I haven't the slightest clue where it came from, but I thought it would go with dinner better than the half century old bottles of some micro-brew ale Shepard had shipped over from Earth. If you thought their hard liquor was bad," Liara said with a grimace.

"Says the asari that until this evening I've never seen drink anything _but _human liquor. Don't try to pull that, I see right through you, Liara T'Soni."

Liara's response was to get up and go back inside. A sick feeling bubbled up deep in Teiron's gut. She hadn't meant to offend, certainly Liara had never been offended before. What had she said? She replayed the conversation, and wondered if it was just bringing up Shepard that had driven the younger woman away. She leaned back in her chair, sinking down, and for the second time that night wished she'd just stayed in the cab and gone home to the Citadel.

She was working through her excuses to leave when Liara returned, carrying another bottle.

"I lived near two hundred years with a marine, Teiron. I can drink just about anything," she said, putting the bottle down in front of Teiron. She read the label, stared wide-eyed at Liara, then read the label again.

While not as dangerous as ryncol, the bottle of purple liquid in front of her was a close second, at least if someone wasn't asari. And used to drinking. It was a hard Thessian liquor, something unavailable even on the asari colony worlds. It was made almost entirely of eezo, mixed with a spicy fruit that if ingested directly was usually fatal. Teiron had heard that there was a push in some of the outlying republics to make it illegal. "Is that what I think it is?"

"If you think it's me getting even for all those mornings I woke up with a hangover to find you perfectly at ease, then yes."

Well, that was a challenge if Teiron had ever heard one. "You're on," she said, sitting up straight, and downing the rest of her wine in one smooth tilt of her head.

From there, she was gone. They finished the wine first, throwing insults and various veiled threats. Teiron hadn't drunk this much since before she'd gotten pregnant, and by the end of the wine her head was already fuzzy. As Liara filled the wine glass with the harder alcohol, Teiron considered calling it quits. Was her pride really worth it? Would her pride survive Liara finding out she'd become a lightweight?

It didn't matter, because Liara was giving her that damn smile again, the one Teiron had always assumed was saved exclusively for Commander Shepard, and if she was going to say something she'd regret in the morning, she'd much rather have the drinks as an excuse for it.

"We're both going to regret this in the morning, you are aware of that, aren't you?" Teiron finally asked as the slow burn worked its way past her throat, her chest and settled in her belly. It was fire in a glass, sweet and slightly spicy. She felt alive.

"That is very likely. But it let's me pick your brain. I've been curious..." Liara shook her head, shrugging.

"Oh no, now you have to ask," Teiron pried.

"No, it is just, Erra's father. Was he salarian? Is that why he's not around. I do not wish to bring up painful memories," she added as Teiron's face fell, "you do not have to answer."

"Turian. He was a turian. I um, I never actually got his name."

"Teiron!" Liara laughed. "That was...almost asari of you."

"Laugh it up, Liara. Laugh it up. It seemed like a good idea at the time." Teiron would never admit it had been Liara that she had been thinking about when she'd conceived her daughter. It was all in the past now, and the fact that she had held a burning candle for the woman before her for centuries wasn't something she was proud of. She thought she knew the answer when she spoke again; when she asked, "Any turian lovers in your past?" but was unpleasantly surprised.

"Maybe. Sort of. A decade or so after Shepard passed. She made me promise not to become a hermit, to try to find someone else. You were right by the way. Spiky."

Teiron refilled her glass. She should be laughing. It was funny, it was amusing. And yet all she could manage was a tight smile as she thought of Liara with someone else. Someone that wasn't he- wasn't Shepard. Liara and Shepard had been meant for each other, to think of her with someone else, it just felt wrong. That was all it was. _That_ was why it was upsetting.

"That they are," Teiron finally managed to say. The conversation died, and Teiron regretted killing it. She wracked her brain trying to think of something to change the subject. "Is that a pond?" she asked suddenly, just to break the silence.

"Yes. Shepard used to keep fish. There may be one of two still in there, they were decorative, mostly." And just like that they were back.

The bottle got emptier, Teiron's speech became more slurred, but the conversation did not die again.

"You 'member that time, at home, when you knocked the vase off the counter? I swear you jumped six feet in the air." At home. It had been their home, Liara's apartment in Nos Astra, even though Teiron had kept her own place. For months she'd only gone back there to do laundry.

"It was your fault," Liara laughed, "you kept moving it closer to the edge. I didn't get my deposit back because of the stain, by the way."

"Well, we'll just have to go back and 'splain, won't we?"

Liara smiled, her eyes burning into Teiron. She felt the weight of that gaze and stopped laughing, meeting Liara's eyes. There was something there, something the booze would not let her comprehend. She smiled though, because Liara was beautiful and if smiling at her was all she could do then so be it. She could be happy with just that.

"Yes, I suppose we will." Lightening flashed, dispelling the shadows the overhead lights cast on the couple. It startled Teiron, and she winced. She was going to regret drinking so much tomorrow, of that she was certain, the sudden brightness had her almost regretting it already. Liara was speaking again, but she could barely hear it as thunder rumbled.

"Mmn?" she asked, refilling her glass again. Almost half the bottle was gone. Oh, she was going to be so sick in the morning.

"I just, sometimes I wonder. I think about it sometimes, what things would have been like...if things with me had been different."

It took a minute for Teiron to realize what she was saying. She couldn't possibly be saying what Teiron thought she was saying. She thought about them, about what they could have been. No, she was reading into it too much. She wanted to run around the table and show her exactly what it would be like, but the memory of claws ripping at her head and the uncertainty that the alcohol might be making her misjudge Liara's statement made her hold not just her tongue. Anyway, if what Illira said was true, the things that had killed off most of the batarians would have eventually taken over the rest of the galaxy too. "Pretty crappy, probably," she finally said, repeating like a mantra that Liara didn't mean what it appeared she meant, "We'd have either ended badly or been eaten by those...whatchamacallits." She thought the former highly unlikely, in reality. She was a very bad asari, and had always preferred the company of other asari. And Liara was just...Liara. Perfect, in that annoying know-it-all way she had. The latter was much more likely, but the statement lost some of its intensity when the alcohol made her forget what the creatures were called. Liara had mentioned them by name once or twice, Illira had, it had been all over the news two hundred years ago, but at the moment she couldn't remember their name to save her life. So much for being the better drinker.

"Reapers," Liara said, thoughtfully.

"Right," Teiron agreed readily, it coming back to her through her fermented eezo coated brain. Was it possible to ferment a mineral? Element. Whatever eezo was. She thought about asking, considering they were drinking it, but didn't. "The batarian eaters." That was easier to remember than 'Reaper' and easier to say than mineral. At least with her current less than articulate tongue.

Teiron expected a smile. She expected a laugh. That was where they were now, away from when they sank into thoughts of things that had happened a long list of yesterdays ago. She kept remembering a bar on Illium though, a nosy bartender, quiet music, and half her paycheck gone on drinks. The look Liara was giving her now was very much like the looks she used to get across a table tucked in the back corner, the rest of the bar forgotten as she once again said something that made Liara sink into her own thoughts. Which is where she was sinking now, apparently.

"Yeah," Liara finally said, very slowly," but I'd have been able to do this." She stood, her eyes sparkling as another flash of lightning lit the porch. With clearly feigned casualness she pushed the chair back, picking up their still-full glasses and setting them aside. Teiron watched, stunned, a varren caught by the lights of an oncoming tank. What were the Alliance ones called? Makos? She was a varren caught by the lights of an oncoming Mako. Liara was leaning over the table, and Teiron knew what was going to happen. They'd been here before, even her addled brain could remember that. Remember doing this, on the other side. She wondered if Liara's stomach had clenched, if her scales had flared causing this dance of pain and pleasure as the wind blew over her. Liara stopped, her lips so close, so tantalizingly close but so far away. Teiron kept herself from leaning forward, from capturing them with her own. Liara was speaking again, and Teiron forced herself to listen. "Any important calls?" she asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

Teiron felt a giggle start in her throat, but she stopped it, shaking her head. "Nothing that can't wait until morning," she managed to breathe. This was going to happen. Was it going to happen? Was she dreaming? She had to be dreaming.

But it wasn't a dream, and Liara closed the distance and their lips brushed. It was chaste, almost motherly. It would have been almost motherly, anyway, if Teiron hadn't spent the last year daydreaming about doing wonderful, horrible, nasty things to this woman's mind. Liara pulled back, licking her lips, eyes searching. Teiron felt herself giggle. No, it wasn't a giggle, she was not going to giggle about this. That was silly, inappropriate. It wasn't a giggle at all. The not-giggle transformed into a not-sob as Liara pulled away. It had been too good to be true, of course.

Teiron watched her walk around the table, and grabbed her glass, downing the last of her drink. She'd ask her to go now. She should have left already.

A warm hand took hers, pulled her to her feet.

And they were kissing again. There was nothing chaste about this. Nothing motherly. Nothing comforting.

It was heady, and harsh. There was nothing dignified about it. Teiron moaned deep in her throat as Liara's hand brushed against the underside of her crest, finding _that _spot, the one that made Teiron shiver and have to pull away or risk doing something to stop this fantasy. Liara's hands were insistent, playing with her crest, tugging at her clothes as they moved, lips breaking apart only long enough for them to take deep, gasping breaths.

Teiron searched blindly for the door, pushing it open, Liara pushing her back through it, through the common room towards the stairs.

They couldn't make it up the stairs connected at the mouth as they were, and Teiron pulled away, panting, leaning against the railing. "I," she gasped, "I better not wake up in the hospital." She tried to keep her voice light, and she hoped that Liara's soft chuckle meant she succeeded, but really, she just couldn't handle that again. If this wasn't going to happen, if this was a bad joke or an amazing dream, she wanted it to end now. Two hundred years she'd been thinking about this. More frequently, certainly, over the last few months, but she'd never forgotten those few, short months on Illium, and she didn't know if she could survive going through that again. She had more than herself to think about now, and she could not let the brokenhearted depression that had over taken her when she'd left Nos Astra all those decades ago take hold again. She wouldn't let that happen.

Liara surged forward again, capturing her lips and pressing her against the wall. The railing hurt, pressing against her lower back, but she dared not break this kiss, in case it was their last.

"Not a chance in hell," Liara murmured before pulling away and taking her hand and pulling her upstairs.


	8. Chapter 8

**I have mixed feelings about this. Actually, no, everything after the break I completely hate, but have been unable to fix it, so rather than trash it I'm just going to post it and be done with it. Dunno if it needs the additional rating, really, its mainly internal monologuing, but better safe than sorry. Oh, and the first part of this was inspired by mallyxable. deviantart art/ Happiness-331289750 which WildOrchid88 was kind enough to get me a link for! Thank you! :D**

"What in the name of all that is good do you think you are doing, Liara T'Soni?" Shepard practically screamed as she rounded the corner into the bathroom of their Citadel apartment.

"I believe I am bathing," Liara answered, sliding deeper down into the warm water, letting the jets ease the tension in her back. "Although, I suppose I could be mistaken. I have had, mmn, what do you humans call it? Pregnancy head? All day. I spent two hours this afternoon looking for my shoes. I was wearing them."

"Get out of that tub! Honestly, Liara, you're going to hurt the baby!" She grabbed a towel from the wall and held it up, gesturing for her bondmate to get up.

"This won't hurt the baby." Liara was utterly nonplussed. The water felt wonderful, and the baby was content for the first time all day. It was nice to not get punched in the bladder every few seconds.

"Liara," Shepard chided, glaring down at her.

"You are confusing human pregnancy with my own again, Shepard. Were I in Armali I would be spending most of my days at the Iníon Falls. Mother said I was born there. The weight of the water is good for the baby."

"But-" Shepard started.

"Now who has pregnancy head? I explained this to you before."

"Brain," Shepard said, defeated. "It's pregnancy brain."

"Ah, that makes more sense. I do not understand why after all this time I still have so many problems with English. Few other human languages give me the same problems, and I've been speaking it the longest." She closed her eyes, sinking down until only her head and the very tip of her swollen belly sat above the water line. She opened a single eye for a second when she felt something on her stomach, but it was only Shepard sitting on the edge of the tub and rubbing a protective hand over their child.

"You could just teach me that cute little Armali dialect that the asari at the baby store couldn't understand a word of."

"Mmn, the Shadow Broker might possibly have made Galactic Standard Bank and Trust flag her accounts as suspicious because of that. She understood me just fine. Like she was even intelligible at all without the translator with her Farwoods accent. Damn southerners." She glared at Shepard when the human laughed, then closed her eyes again. It wasn't like her to be so petty; she blamed it on the pregnancy. "But if you want to learn, I will certainly try."

"I'd like that," Shepard said, leaning over and pressing a kiss to the side of her neck. Why don't we move this into the other room and start?" She slipped a hand under the water. "We can start with the word for this."

"You just want me away from the Jacuzzi jets," Liara protested weakly, spreading her legs as much as the tub would allow.

"Yes," Shepard admitted, "but I'll make it up to you."

"Help me up then."

Shepard helped her to her feet and out of tub. She kissed her, gently, their baby making it difficult for her to deepen the kiss. Despite reassurances, Shepard was always afraid she'd crush the child. Breaking away, Shepard made slow work of drying Liara off, taking special care over her stomach, talking softly to the unborn child as she worked. Satisfied Liara was dry enough to not slip she draped the towel around her lover's shoulders and followed her into the bedroom.

She turned down the bed and took much too long, in Liara's opinion, to remove her shoes, before settling down against the pillows and patting the mattress between her legs. Liara slipped between them gratefully, if not gracefully, her back pressed against the soldier's chest. She really couldn't wait for their child to be born, and they certainly weren't having any more after this, no matter what Shepard wanted. One, that was it. They were done. Well, one and Illira, wherever she might be in the time stream.

She leaned back against Shepard, groaning softly as the spectre's hands did what the jets never could. She felt the tension leaving her arms as the other woman kneaded the muscles in her shoulders, her neck. She felt herself growing drowsy and tried to fight it. Shepard had been more than kind about the fact that she often felt like a beached whale, another human expression but one she related to very well at the moment, and that since her confinement they'd made love only sporadically, but she didn't want to sleep tonight. The resonance at the base of her skull was distracting, she wanted to slip into Shepard's mind, wanted to watch the woman writhe under her, wanted to make her scream, but as Shepard's magic hands worked at her arms and shoulders she knew she was fighting a losing battle.

Tomorrow then, she thought as she drifted off to sleep, safe in Shepard's arms, tomorrow.

Shepard knew the moment Liara fell asleep and smiled to herself. Liara didn't get nearly enough rest, and Shepard had made it her secret mission to get Liara to sleep whenever she could. She slipped out from behind her, careful not to wake her, or jar the baby. She slid the towel off, dropping it to the floor, then tucked the sheets up around her. She kissed her, softly, on the side of the mouth, and left two feather-light kisses on each of her eyelids. If there was anything more perfect than the scene in front of her she didn't know what it was.

* * *

The hallway was dark, and echoed as another crash of thunder resounded outside. Teiron felt Liara's hand tighten in her own, not out of reassurance but more like Liara felt that she was going to bolt. She couldn't say she wasn't thinking about it. She couldn't say it hadn't crossed her mind as they'd made it up the stairs and Liara pulled her gently back toward the master bedroom. With as much alcohol as was swirling through their systems, this had to be a bad idea. No. It was a Very Bad Idea. The kind of Bad Idea that turned around and bit you in the ass when you were least expecting it.

The last thing Teiron wanted was for Liara to wake up in the morning and regret this. If she left now, even if it was just to the guest room that she had no idea how to get to, they could avoid that.

Liara pushed open a door at the end of the hall, and backed into it, her eyes questioning. She dropped Teiron's hand, as if she'd been reading her thoughts.

This was it. This was her chance. The alcohol was preventing her from reasoning. That was what she told herself as, rather than turn away, she stepped into the bedroom. Very Very Bad Idea.

Liara came up to her, barely a hair's breath between their bodies. She ran her hands up Teiron's arms, up her neck, across her jaw and then down her chest and stomach. She slid her hands under Teiron's shirt, pulling it up over her head, then letting her fingers dance back down her newly exposed arms. Teiron felt a wave of self-consciousness that was pushed aside by the few too many drinks she'd had. She was a single mother with a twenty-something daughter. She hadn't been on a real date in so long she'd forgotten when they were like. She hadn't had sex in the Goddess knew how long, and the only person who had shared her bed was her daughter after she'd had a nightmare. And she certainly hadn't planned on being in this position when she'd boarded the transport that morning.

Still, Liara didn't seem to care about the blemishes on her stomach that she'd never felt the need to take care of. Who was going to see them anyway? Liara ran her fingers over them, yes, her fingers erasing the fears Teiron held. They trailed down, following the line of discolored scales to the top of Teiron's pants. She hooked her thumbs into the belt loops and pulled them together again, closing the distance that removing Teiron's shirt had caused.

Her kiss was slow, and beneath the taste of the alcohol, Liara tasted like honey. The light fabric of Liara's dress inflamed Teiron's already sensitive skin. The scales rubbed the wrong away against the fabric, and for all she tried to stop herself, she moaned, the sound coming from deep in her chest. Goddess, had anything felt that good?

She felt Liara chuckle against her lips, felt her begin to pull away, and tried to follow, pouting as their lips broke contact. Bad Idea or not, kissing Liara was one of those things she could do forever. Liara took a full step back, her eyes trailing down Teiron's body. Teiron ran her palms against her thighs, a nervous gesture she'd been unaware she had until this moment.

This was it. Liara was coming to her senses and she'd tell her to go. She didn't want this. She didn't want her. It had been the rain and the wine and the moment and now that the moment was gone reality would come crashing back.

Except, she wasn't telling her to go. Hands reached up, running over the yellow fabric, reaching back, over bare shoulder blades, and slowly undid the zipper at the back of the dress. The dress fell to the floor without preamble, pooling at Liara's ankles. She stepped out of it, toeing off her sandals with the same step. She was graceful, despite having matched Teiron drink for drink. There was no wasted energy, no unneeded movement.

Teiron let her eyes drink in the sight before her. The room was dimly lit, the bedside table lamp cast a soft yellow glow, and the hall light seeped in around the cracked door. The shadows were long, and they danced along Liara's skin. The long expanse of her neck, the soft curve of her shoulders, her breasts. The flat plane of her stomach. She was living art, beauty captured in a single, breathing person. Teiron smirked, taking a step forward, unwilling to go without touching her any longer. Her eyes drifted over Liara's comfortable, simple panties and watched the blush that crept up Liara's neck.

"This wasn't exactly on the agenda when I invited you for the weekend," Liara murmured, laughter tinting her voice. Teiron had always had a soft spot of Liara's embarrassed grin, and took this moment as ample opportunity to do what she'd always wanted and kiss it away.

"Don't try to pretend you didn't stand in front of the dresser trying to pick between those and the lacy black ones. This was your plan all along, you just thought I was gullible enough to think your choice of underthings left any idea where your mind has been all night."

Liara stared at her wordlessly, the remains of the smile Teiron had tried to kiss away vanishing. Teiron figured if she stuck her foot any farther into her mouth tonight she'd be choking on her knee. Liara had, this past year, been more than able to keep up with her joking, mostly sarcastic tongue. Making half-assed puns about the most current iteration of Blasto while on the wards, however, was very different from standing naked in a bedroom with only one reasonable outcome to the evening. She wondered if she could find her shirt again and leave with at least some of her dignity intact.

"They were red," Liara told the floor.

"I'm sorry?" Teiron asked, reaching out and running her hands up Liara's sides before using a single finger to lift Liara's eyes to hers. If she was going to be kicked out on her ass she was going to leave knowing she'd touched her one last time.

"The panties. They were red, not black."

There was nothing to do about that except kiss her again. She was more that just a little happy that things had slowed down though. The desire to Join was building in her spine, making her fingers twitch, and had Liara kissed her as she had downstairs she wasn't sure she'd have been able to prevent herself from finishing things much too quickly. She slipped her arms around Liara's waist, searching for the ball of nerves on Liara's lower back. She found them, the scales around them standing on their ends. She toyed with these, enjoying the sounds it drew from her friend? Lover? What were they right now? She didn't care, she just wanted to keep hearing that tiny little mewling noise all night long. She pressed down, gently but firmly, and Liara arched back into her hand, her face falling against her neck, a strangled cry cut off before it began.

"Off," she demanded, removing Teiron's hand from her back and tugging insistently at her pants. She dropped her panties, stepping out of them as smoothly as she had her dress. Teiron didn't listen, moving instead to follow the line of raised scales on Liara's side, following them with as much concentration as her quickly sobering brain would allow. She let her fingers dance up to Liara's breasts and cupped them, her thumbs running over Liara's nipples and gaining her another wordless moan. She did it again, to the same result. Armed with this knowledge she bent her head, capturing one perfect nipple in her mouth, and barely getting her arm out as Liara's knees buckled.

She was remembering how this worked now, forgetting how Very Very Bad this was, and just letting Liara's body guide her.

Only, Liara didn't appear to appreciate the foreplay. She shoved playfully at Teiron's shoulder, undid the button on her pants and in one swift movement slid them down her hips. Only to find that they got stuck on her boots.

Liara growled lowly, eyes flashing with want and frustration and she shoved Teiron hard enough that she floundered briefly before landing on her back on the bed, her legs dangling over the edge of the mattress at the knee.

"Why can't I fall in love with someone who wears normal shoes?" Liara muttered, dropping to her knees and working quickly at the laces.

She didn't mean it of course, Teiron thought as Liara pulled her boots off and set them aside. Her socks were next, shoved neatly into the boots. It was just the sort of thing that someone says in a situation like this. Love didn't really come into it. This was just the alcohol and the weather and the fact that neither of them had been laid in a couple of decades. She didn't care anymore, as her pants were finally freed and Liara made a small yelp of triumph, that this was a Bad Idea and that more than likely they'd both regret this come morning. She'd lost count of the number of times she'd thought about this. Enough that she was having trouble not latching on to Liara's nervous system and having her way with her. As Liara slid up her body, trailing kisses up the inside of her thigh, Teiron stopped trying to fight it.

She reached out through the space between them, her eyes shading to black, her body humming with the pulse of her biotics. She reached, she stretched, all her desire, her want, her being thrown into the meld.

And she hit a wall.

Even after two centuries she still remembered the clawing pain the last time that had happened and she retreated quickly, her eyes fading back to their normal green. Her arousal faded with it, leaving her panting from fear not want. The pain didn't come though. A pair of blue eyes met hers. They were laughing at her.

"Impatient much?" Liara asked before leaning over and blowing gently on the curve of her shoulder, doing much more to reignite the flame of desire than the action really should have.

Teiron huffed, capturing Liara's mouth again. Impatient? Hardly. But, while she would never say no to a friendly grope, that had not been what she thought Liara wanted. The look in her eyes, the way her hands trailed over her breasts, danced along her hips. The way her tongue demanded and received entrance into her mouth. Things could only go so far without the meld, and Teiron knew first hand that if you let it go too long, you both just ended up frustrated and tired.

Liara sat up, straddling Teiron's thighs, her hands never stopping their incessant wanderings over her skin. She slid a hand down, between Teiron's thighs. She frowned, and Teiron stared wide-eyed up at her, wondering what she was doing. Doubly so when she suddenly rolled off her and scrambled toward the bedside table. Teiron's biotics pulsed, and she barely reigned them in as she pushed herself up on the bed, eyes never leaving Liara as she searched for something in the drawer.

"What are you doing?" Teiron asked, the mood dissolving. Goddess, she just wanted to be inside the woman's mind.

"Push the bedspread down," Liara said, slamming the drawer shut and palming something small, "I rather it not get ruined."

Teiron complied, confused, horny and not just a little frustrated. She wasn't sure how they would ruin the bed sheets and she didn't much care, she just wanted Liara back over against her, all her barriers down. Whatever Liara had found, she dropped on the bed, then crawled back over, kissing her way up the side of Teiron's neck. Her hand went back between Teiron's legs, and the other woman jerked away suddenly before relaxing. Her hands were wet.

"What the? What are you doing?" She decided she was saying that too much. "I'm not...oh, Goddess." Lube. It was lube. It just wasn't done, the way Liara's hands slipped between the folds protecting her birth canal, the way they curled up _inside_ her. Sure, you meet a male of a species you let them lube you up and do what needs doing so their natural barriers come down a little and you can slip in with less resistance. You might fondle the women a bit, if that was your thing. You did not do this to another asari. But oh, Goddess why not? Her hips jerked outside of her control, rising to meet Liara's hand. Why had no one ever told her she had nerves there?

Liara was whispering to her, but she couldn't hear a word of it. There was just the building passion she'd never felt outside of a meld before. And then they were Joining, and she could feel her heart rate synching to Liara's and could feel the waves of desire and lust and want and something that tasted a bit like love that radiated from the younger woman, and Goddess help her, Liara's hands didn't stop moving, they were supposed to stop moving, but they weren't and it was echoing inside her brain as Liara played off all the pleasure centers there. She'd curl her fingers, and send a pulse of want though the joining, and it was like nothing she'd ever felt before. Ever. Over four hundred years old and she'd never even known this was possible. Goddess, why wasn't this common knowledge?

As the meld deepened, their sense of self decaying until they were just one, single writhing mass of each other, and Liara continued to touch her Teiron had a fair idea why. If it got out that it could be like _this, _that pleasure like _this_ could exist, the Matriarchy would never get a single asari to mate outside asari ever again. Ever. They'd probably never get any of their daughter's out of bed, either.

Liara lowered herself down, so her weight rested fully across Teiron. The hand between Teiron's legs never stopped, and her other hand reached up, running along the edge of Teiron's crest. She was still talking, Teiron could hear it, but it was otherworldly and she couldn't focus on the words. Liara smiled against her neck, pressing open mouth kisses there, and she pushed further into the meld. Deeper. Not nearly deep enough, nowhere near deep enough. But there were risks, and the rewards weren't worth it, and Goddess it didn't matter anyway because she was using muscles she didn't know she had, and they were doing things she hadn't thought possible and she was coming. They were coming. Oh, Goddess, yes. The release of hormones, heavily leaning toward endorphins, that marked the asari orgasm was mixed with something in her lower belly she could not describe. She'd heard rumors over the last couple centuries that it was possible to feel echos of this when bonding with a human female, but Liara was not human and neither of their bodies should be able to but they were and Goddess her mind needed to stop working and just _feel_ because this was heaven, and she'd start to come down and Liara would _move_, and it wasn't over, and Goddess don't you ever stop Liara T'Soni. Her hand finally did still, and the Joining began to fade, but it was still so damn perfect.

She moaned as Liara withdrew from her, almost bringing her fingers to her lips before wiping them on the pillow beside Teiron's head.

"I...fuck," Teiron whispered, "What did you think you were doing?"

"Ignoring everything I've ever been taught about asari biology? It apparently does work that way," Liara laughed, sounding none too full of herself. Not that she didn't deserve it, Goddess that had been incredible. Her face suddenly fell, though, and she sat up, staring deeply into her eyes. "You're not...mad are you? I shouldn't have..."

Teiron stopped her ramblings with a kiss. She had no idea what Liara had meant about it working that way, because it clearly did, and honestly she just didn't care. She was sleepy. She never got sleepy after sex. Her eyes were closing, though, and Liara was planting feather light kisses on her eyelids and curling up beside her and telling her to sleep. Sleep. Yes, sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Sunlight streamed through the window, it played along the edge of the sill, crept along the floor and snuck under Shepard's eyelids. She groaned, rolled over, burying her face in the pillow. What had compelled her to drink so much at the reception the night before she did not know. Liara had warned her. She'd put a hand on her arm and whispered at her to slow down, that the wine wasn't going anywhere. She'd told her that she'd just regret it in the morning. It had been so dull, though. Speech after speech about nothing at all interesting. Everyone in the room was well aware that the human embassy was on Thessia now, it had been for almost ten years. No one cared that human-asari relations were currently at their best in the last century. All Shepard cared about was the fact that it was her birthday, she was sixty-five years old tomorrow, but that no one could tell by looking at her. And that apparently the asari, for all their grace and radiant sexuality, did not know how to throw a party. She hadn't been sure if she was celebrating or commiserating.

"DADDY!" The cry came from the doorway, followed by the crash landing of a small asari. Kiyett had launched herself from the door, and with a little help from Illira's newly aquired biotics, had landed squarely on the sleeping woman's back. Shepard felt all the air leave her lungs and she grimaced as the headache she'd thought she could avoid exploded. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"Thank you, baby," Shepard said into the pillow, "What are you doing up so early?"

"It's not eeearly," the nine-year old squealed, much too loudly for her father's current delicate head. "Mommy said we had to let you sleep. 'Cause you was...you was...you wasn't feeling well!"

Illira snorted in the doorway. Shepard rolled over, careful to keep Kiyett from falling and glared at her eldest. Illira had hit a growth spurt with her accession into puberty, and though she now stood half an inch taller than her mother, she appeared taller because she was all gangly arms and legs. Shepard attempted to give her a disapproving look, but her head hurt too much, and her frown became another grimace.

"Mom says she made your morning coffee extra strong," Illira laughed.

"I can't wait until you start drinking," Shepard murmured, getting up, Kiyett snug against her hip.

"I could start today!" Illira said hopefully.

"Yeah, I'm hung over Beanstalk, not still drunk. Thank you for watching your sisters last night, by the way," Shepard said, "It means a lot to your mom and me." She attempted to plant a kiss on her daughter's cheek as she stepped by, but Illira leaned away from her.

"Goddess, Dad, don't call me beanstalk," Illira whined, rolling her eyes. "And you owe me twenty credits for last night."

"But the name finally fits," Shepard called after her as Illira stormed off to her room and slammed her door. "Your sister is so moody," Shepard told Kiyett, tickling her belly. "Don't you ever grow up. Promise me, okay?"

"'Kay," the girl said, "Can we go have cake now?"

"Coffee first," Shepard answered, feeling her stomach lurch, "cake after dinner."

"But it's breakfast time!" Kiyett cried. "It's gonna be foreeeeever a'fore dinner."

"Then you'll have to be patient won't you? Why don't we see if we can be patient together while bothering Allison and your mother?"

Kiyett cheered and began babbling as Shepard made her way downstairs. They were met at the bottom of the stairs by Allison, who quickly became a co-conspirator in their attempts to bother Liara instead of a second intended victim. Liara was ready for them though, with breakfast and an extra-large cup of coffee.

"Good morning Shepard. Sleep well?" Liara asked, moving Kiyett to her booster chair before returning to give her bondmate a good morning kiss.

"Eww, stop it," Allison giggled, "that's just gross."

Shepard laughed, and Liara smiled at their middle daughter. "Should I kiss you instead?" she asked, moving over and planting a dozen small kisses all over her daughter's crest and face. "Is that better?"

"No, Mommy, stop! Mom! Dad, help!" Allison laughed.

The noise was slowly making an angry tension build in Shepard's shoulder. Her head was pounding, her stomach was a knot. Lord have mercy, but as much as she loved her family she just wanted to be somewhere quiet right now. She rubbed her temples, counting back from a hundred. Liara noticed, though Shepard tried to brush her off.

She dropped a couple of pills onto the counter and pressed a lingering kiss to her temple. "We're going to have a very loud, mostly child-centered party for your birthday. I'm baking the cake. Your present from me though, is that you are going to go to your office and not come out until your headache is gone. I did tell Illira to see if you were awake, but not to wake you up," she whispered in her ear, "I love you."

Shepard smiled, kissed her and dry swallowed the pain killers. "I love you, too. Give me an hour."

The girls whined as their father left the table, head bent over her coffee cup. Liara shushed them, distracted them and Shepard slipped across the house and down the hall. Her office was dark, cool, and she sank into the desk chair with a sigh. Her headache was almost gone when there was a knock on the door.

"'S open," she called, opening a single eye as the door cracked. Illira walked in, eyes downcast, feet barely lifting off the floor.

She closed the door behind her and left the light off. Her voice never rose above a whisper. "I'm sorry I snapped at you," she murmured.

Shepard laughed, but it was cut short and she winced as her headache flared up for a second. "It's fine, Illy. I was your age, okay, I was already an N7 marine when I was your age, what I mean is I know what you're going through. And it can't be easy with two sisters on top of it all. I wasn't upset."

"Yeah, but you weren't feeling well and I left you with Kay." She shrugged. "That wasn't fair."

"You're twenty-eight years old. You've got more important things to worry about than a father that drank too much and your baby sister. Like maybe, boys?"

"Dad, this is Thessia. There _are_ no boys," Illira laughed. "But I still-"

"No. You shouldn't have. And you're present for my birthday is going to be to drop it, got it? I won't even force you to let me call you Beanstalk."

Illira shrugged. "I kinda like that you still call me beanstalk," she muttered.

Shepard smiled at her, and stood. "Well, then, my little Beanstalk, what say we go impress your sisters with our mad potato chucking skills?"

"I'd like that. Happy birthday, Dad."

"Thanks, Illy. And maybe we can sneak in a sip of that Thessian red your mom brought home last night. I'm sure she won't notice."

"Isn't that why you look like you've been run over by a truck? No thank you."

"See, I told your mother there was a reason I drank so much. It was a lesson for you!"

* * *

The first thing Teiron thought upon regaining consciousness was 'Ow'. This was followed by 'I really need to stop drinking' and 'When did my apartment get a window'. Close on the heels of this came the sudden realization that she was naked. And that she wasn't alone. As the body beside her shifted in its sleep, the memories of the night before came crashing back much too clearly for her to be as hung over as she thought she was.

At some point during the night she and Liara had rolled away from each other, but she could remember the feel of the other woman as if she were still pressed against her side. Could remember the things Liara had done to her after they'd fallen into bed. And then repeated sometime during the night when they'd woken up briefly. And returning the favor a little while later when sleep hadn't come to claim her again.

Teiron had been with a lot of asari. A lot, _a lot_ of asari. From a young age she'd found she never had much attraction to the other species floating around that all her friends had eventually drifted toward. When humans had shown up during her second century of life, she'd done her duty as a member of the 'galactic welcoming committee', trademark pending, and fell into bed with both genders, once with both at the same time. While humans were closer to asari than any other species she'd had contact with, she'd found them much too physical. They treated sex so casually as to be laughable, but balked when they discovered she wasn't letting them anywhere near her without the foreknowledge that she would be using their brains for her own purposes, thank you very much. The men, and this held true for most species with the exception, perhaps, of the salarians, were immediately put on guard if she so much as brought up the Joining in conversation and the women were usually turned off by her seeming need, at the time, to say everything she was thinking.

Still, she'd never felt any sort of desire for them to touch her. There was no need for physicality for asari to find pleasure, and she'd never had an asari lover that didn't simply cuddle up beside her and let their minds do all the work. That's where it was supposed to happen. That's how it _worked._ You just didn't not do it like that. The gendered races had a strange fascination with the area between her legs that she had never understood - before. She almost wished Shepard wasn't dead so she could thank her for teaching Liara to do...whatever it was they'd done last night. But that would be awkward.

Teiron had a sudden vision of going out to Shepard's memorial on Earth and explaining last night to the stone statue. She clamped down on the sudden need to laugh, glancing nervously at her bed mate.

She was left with two choices after last night. She could do the right thing, and wait here in bed until Liara woke up. She could watch the horror of what they'd done sink into the other woman, and listen to all the polite excuses on why they could never ever do it again. She could hide her broken heart, nod understandingly and lie through her teeth that she agreed wholeheartedly.

Or she could run.

She could slip out of bed and out of the house. She could be on the next transport to the Citadel before Liara had realized what happened. She'd have to try to explain why Liara wasn't going to come around anymore to Erra, but she'd have to do that anyway. Better that than hear Liara tell her it had been a mistake. It was the coward's way out. She'd never considered herself very brave.

She sat up slowly, eyes searching for her clothes. She'd have to leave her bag here, she didn't know where Liara had put it. That might give her some extra time to get away after Liara woke up, actually. She was calculating the best route to get her clothes and get out the door when something banged downstairs.

Shit. The noise didn't come again, but Liara was stirring.

She blinked slowly and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. Teiron tensed, waiting for the inevitable.

"Morning," Liara muttered, yawning, before scooting over and lifting Teiron's arm so she could snuggle against her side. "What time is it?"

Teiron couldn't find the words to answer. This was not how it was supposed to hapapen. This is how she'd _wanted_ it to play out, Liara's warm breath against her shoulder, her fingers painting random patterns on her belly, but she'd lived long enough to know she didn't ever get what she wanted. She gaped like a fish out of water, still waiting for Liara to come to her senses. She figured, though, that in the meantime she might as well take advantage of the fact Liara didn't seem intent on going anywhere. She leaned over and kissed the top of her head, the kiss lingering as she waited to be pushed away. "I'm not sure," she said slowly, as if talking to a scared horse that might bolt, "I just woke up. Something broke downstairs, I think."

Liara sat up straighter, planting a quick, soft kiss on her mouth, before climbing over her and out of bed. "It's probably Kari. I forgot to tell her Allison's on Earth with Kiyett. But she'll make us breakfast." She stood beside the bed, glorious in her nakedness, then leaned down and kissed Teiron again, slowly, thoroughly. "Mmn, your bags are in the room at the end of the hall, but I think I could find some of Shepard's old things that would fit you, if you don't want to throw your dirty clothes back on to get there." She smiled, kissed her again, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to be naked together, and talking about wearing her former bondmate's clothes. She didn't seem satisfied with that, though, and quickly returned to the bed, straddling her, her hands cupping Teiron's face as she continued to kiss her.

"If you don't stop," Teiron said, her hands rubbing up and down Liara's back, "I will not be held responsible for my actions."

Liara opened her mouth to answer, but then her stomach rumbled and she laughed. It was bird song after a spring rain. It was the sound of children laughing. It was that piece of music that could take the worst day of your life and make it wonderful. It was beautiful, and joyous. It was happiness. "My stomach has other ideas, apparently." She kissed her again. Teiron was finding she could get used to this. "I'll meet you downstairs. Kari makes human pancakes that are just about the best things I've ever tasted. You'll love them." Another kiss. Goddess.

"Um, who's Kari?" Teiron asked as Liara got up again and began digging through her dresser, throwing on what Erra would have called 'Saturday clothes', sweatpants and a tank-top.

Liara looked over her shoulder, her face contorted in the cutest way. "The cook," she said, sounding all the world like having a personal chef was no big deal. If it weren't for the way her eyes widened and her grin spread as Teiron get up out of the bed, all of her insecurities would have come crashing back. As it was, it hardly registered, and she felt a rush of pride that she could cause such a look in Liara. That she could cause any kind of reaction at all in the woman.

"Right," she said, gathering her clothes from the end of the bed and slipping them on. There was no way in the republics that she'd ever be able to wear Shepard's clothes without freaking out. "Because I totally saw that one coming."

Liara laughed and headed for the door, barefoot. "Allison is on an eezo restricted diet, and has been since she hit puberty. I'm hardly the world's best cook, but Shepard got sick more than once the first few years we lived here because I simply forgot she couldn't eat anything native. I wasn't about to risk Alli. I kept her on, Alli insists I can't cook at all. And after Shepard passed, well, it got lonely around here." She shrugged self-consciously. "She can do amazing things in the kitchen though. Bring your bags back here when you're done changing, the door on your left, right next to the staircase," she said as she walked by, her hand brushing against Teiron's.

Teiron nodded dumbly, watching her leave. She was supposed to be doing something. She was supposed to...what? She couldn't remember. The only thought in her head revolved around the fact that Liara wanted her back here. Her things, here. She wasn't throwing her out. She wasn't questioning what they did. It was just given that she'd be spending the weekend in Liara's bed. It was refusing to sink in. She began pacing, taking in the room. A pair of bondmate bracelets, linked, hanging beside the dresser mirror. The widow bracelet Liara had been wearing, when had she taken it off? It was sitting on the dresser. Tucked into a corner of the mirror was a child's drawing, the figures labeled: Mom, Dad, Gun, Me. Another pair of bondmate bracelets, these much older, as old as Teiron if she didn't miss her guess. These on a shelf beside a holo of a group of aliens. She spotted Liara among the group, saw Shepard. The crew of the Normandy then, Shepard's team anyway.

A vase of flowers, makeup. Some human jewelry that looked like it had never been worn. A few small children's toys. The sort that gets handed over with much ceremony by a child of no more than six, maybe eight. She had more than a few on her own dresser, gifts from Erra when she'd been feeling down and her daughter had noticed. This, unlike Liara's apartment on the Citadel, was a place that was _lived in_, not just a place where someone resided. The common room downstairs might have been just a step above museum, but this was so normal. And she'd been invited, no, practically ordered, into it.

The laugh started small, but bubbled up. It was crazed, humorless. All the fears she'd had since waking up were contained inside it. All the fears she'd had since she'd first heard Liara's voice on the Citadel all those months ago. This was all just an amazing dream, and she'd wake up, alone. She bent over, laughing so hard it was difficult to catch her breath, so hard she was crying. Until she actually was crying and not laughing anymore. She was probably lying in bed with that damn turian. She'd wake up, she wouldn't have Liara. She wouldn't have Erra. Goddess, if anything happened to her daughter. No, Erra was hers, and she was fine, and probably complaining to the camp councilor about how the stinging insects wouldn't leave her alone. The tears, from her laughter and her crying, stopped.

She looked at the bed, the messed sheets; Liara's dress, her shoes, in a pile at its foot. Last night _had_ happened. And despite the drinks Liara didn't seem to regret one second of it. She smiled, and it was real this time, happy. She didn't know if it could work, if they had a future beyond today, but she was more than willing to give it a try.

With renewed vigor she searched the hallway, which was much shorter than she remembered from last night, until she found the guest room, her bag just inside the door. She'd yet to see a bathroom, but a place as old as this probably only had one, and it was probably in one of the out buildings. She'd kill for a shower, but resigned herself to just putting on fresh clothes. With one last look in the mirror, she did her best to cover the purple bruise on her neck with the collar of her shirt and made her way downstairs.

She heard Liara in the kitchen, her voice much too serious. She came around the corner, hands deep in her pockets, wondering what could cause her new lover to sound like that. Lover. She mouthed the word soundlessly, feeling an urge to giggle. She liked it. The way it felt on her lips, the way it sounded in her head. The happy feeling fell from her quickly, though, when she saw the woman who was dancing through her thoughts.

Liara was glaring at an asari that, if not in her Matriarch years, was very close to them. The elder woman had her arms crossed against her breasts, and from the look on her face, had Teiron not known better she would have assumed the woman was Liara's mother.

"Child, you cannot let that girl just run around like that. What she going to do if she has an incident on Earth? What would you do? I've known her near almost as long as you have, and for all she's doing better she is in no condition to be flying all over Athame's sweet galaxy."

"She's over two hundred years old. I may be her mother, but I'm not her minder any longer."

"You are her mother, you will always be her minder."

Teiron cleared her throat before the conversation could continue. They both turned to her and she regretted it for one fleeting moment before Liara's face broke out in yet another beautiful smile. She felt she could die happy as long as that was the last thing she saw. The other asari, Kari she presumed, glared at her, her eyes seeming to take stock of her, size her up. Teiron felt the same self-consciousness she had the day she'd met Commander Shepard. The human woman had done much the same, but while Shepard had apparently decided she liked her, this Kari was clearly finding her lacking. Deep, sea blue eyes landed on the love bite on Teiron's neck, and the elder woman scowled before turning away.

"I bought blueberries the last time I was on the Citadel. Put them in the pancakes, would you Kari? We'll eat on the porch." Kari didn't seem too pleased with the brush off, but nodded, casting once last glance over her shoulder, muttering to herself as she turned the stove on.

"What was that about?" Teiron asked as Liara led her back outside. The dinner dishes were still sitting there, the mostly gone liquor. Liara gathered all these up and set them on the floor by the door. She came back, wrapped her arms around Teiron's waist and laid her head on her shoulder.

"Allison. Kari takes it as a personal affront if I do not spend every waking moment with my daughter. I do worry," Liara said, her voice catching slightly, "but I can't hover over her. And she knows her limits better than I do."

Teiron returned her hug, holding her as if her life depended on it. She wanted to kiss her, but the disapproving look Kari had sent her stopped her. She might be willing to face the ridicule and scrutiny a pureblood relationship always brought, but she wouldn't un-needfully force Liara to. It would come eventually, if Liara never came to her senses, and Teiron did really hope she never came to her senses, but it didn't have to happen today.

Today, they would eat pancakes and walk through the yard barefoot and see what last night's storm had drug out of hiding. They'd sit by the fish pond and spend hours talking about current events. They'd light a fire in the evening and sit in front of it. Today, they would simply exist.

Reality could happen tomorrow.


	10. Chapter 10

Illira frowned as she watched Allison lay her head against her mother's stomach the way their father did. Liara was laughing, running a hand over her still-solid crest. She was whispering to her. Illira hated it when her mother whispered to Allison.

"Hey there, beanstalk. What's got that pretty face of yours all curled up so nasty?"

Aethyta lowered herself slowly into the chair beside Illira. The girl looked up at her and shrugged.

"Nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing. Looks very much like something to me."

"Doesn't matter."

"Uh-huh. Look, kid, I may be older than dirt, but I still know a thing or two. And I know your dad is upstairs setting up the nursery off the master bedroom again. And I know your mom's been off her feet now for a long time, 'cause there ain't no way she's risking another baby like she did your sister. And I know you're sitting over here, all alone even though either one of them would die to have you help. And I know it's because someone doesn't want another sister."

"It's not that Poppi. I just...I had to come live with you after Allison was born. But now I've got school and friends and I don't want to go."

"You also lived on that sardine can they call the Citadel. And your mom isn't half as stupid as she was then, and your dad is actually going to be around this time, goddess-forsaken no good woman. She better be around," Aethyta growled. "Anyway, I practically live in your damned back yard now, it's not like you'd have to switch schools."

Illira giggled. "Yeah. That's true. Maybe I'll move out there with you anyway," she said.

"And if I don't want you, kid?" her grandfather laughed. "I'm getting too old to have you feisty young types running around all over the place."

Illira laughed, "Okay, Poppi. I won't come get under foot."

"Hmph. Good."

"What'll happen if this baby is sick too?" Illira asked after a while. Allison had moved off to play with her toys, her bare legs shining with the glow of her implants.

"Nothing's going to be wrong with this baby. That's why your mom hasn't gotten back on her feet even though she's due any day. She knows better, this time. But knowing your parents, if she is, they'll just make her better. It is, apparently, what they do. And they seem to be pretty damn good at it."

"You're swearing again, Poppi. Mom said you'd have to leave if you did that."

"You ain't gonna tell her, are you?"

She giggled again. "No. I'm glad you're here."

"Me too, kid. You should go talk to you mother. She's worried you're mad at her. You aren't are ya?"

Illira shook her head, staring down at her hands. "Of course not. I just wish I knew what was going to happen. Allison takes up so much of their time, and then with a new baby..."

"You are much too young to be thinking like that. Most you should be worrying about it getting away with not doing your math homework. And I always told people Liara was the smartest of my daughters," Aethyta murmured. "Shows what I know. They can't pay any attention to you if you keep hiding in the corner, kid."

Illira thought about it, biting her lip as she looked up at her grandfather. "I think I might go see if dad needs help." She stood up, hugged Aethyta and then made her way up the stairs. When she was gone, Aethyta rose slowly and went to stand beside her daughter.

"She's mad about the baby, isn't she?" Liara asked.

"Nah. Worried, more like. Your second rugrat isn't exactly a piece of cake."

"Allison's fine. She's already surpassed all the doctor's expectations."

"I didn't say she wasn't. Don't put words in my mouth, kid. It's rude. But you have to admit, trying for another isn't exactly the smartest thing you could have done. And yeah, I know she was a damn accident. You need to learn to control yourself. It really isn't that hard to not map someones DNA, I'm going to have a goddess-damned dozen grandkids before I die at this rate."

"Does she hate me?"

"Damn, you really are a fool. No, she doesn't hate you. She's a kid that's petrified she's going to lose her mom. And she doesn't know which is worse, if you die giving birth or if you just stop having time for her."

Liara nodded, sighing. "I need to talk to her."

"I knew there was a brain in there somewhere."

* * *

The transport wasn't as crowded as Liara had expected, a welcome surprise after Kiyett had informed her of how they were getting back to the Citadel. Liara normally hired a private shuttle, or if she was traveling alone, ordered one of the Shadow Broker's agents to 'transport a highly valuable operative'. Kiyett had apparently had other ideas, as she'd already booked this trip before she and Allison had even landed back on Thessia. As the docking clamps engaged and the passengers began to get up and congregate by the airlock, Liara glanced over at her youngest daughter.

For her fiftieth birthday Shepard had, despite Liara's protests, taken the girl out to get the nose piercing she'd been begging to get for the last two decades. It had been a got-into-Serrice-University-on-a-scholarship present as much as it had been a birthday present. There had been years, Liara had to admit, when she'd been certain that their youngest would end up doing nothing but dance in a club. Of course, now, decades later, she was moonlighting at Purgatory on weekends, but Liara attempted to just write that off as her still being a maiden. Liara _was_ a little surprised that she held the engineering job she did during the week, considering her appearance, though. The nose ring had been joined by a septum and matching bridge piercing, a series of small rings along the upper bridge of her right eye, two lip rings, a tongue ring, and, just recently while she'd been on earth, not one, but two piercings through her crest. Just looking at them made Liara wince. She was wearing a pair of torn blue jeans and a concert t-shirt for an asari cover band of an old human rock group. All of her limited markings were accented in colored eyeliner, her eyes edged with heavy black. Liara wondered if her youngest would ever grow up.

Kiyett glanced at the milling crowd, shoved the data pad she'd been reading into the duffel bag at her feet and smiled at her mother. "You really should stop worrying," she said, standing up.

Liara followed her, grabbing her own bags and joining the throng of people just as the airlock door opened. "I'm not," she answered, belying her words by straightening her shirt for the third time since the ship had stopped.

"Right, that's why it took you six hours to get ready this morning, you changed three times, keep fiddling with your shirt and are totally wearing that perfume dad bought you. I'm telling you, she's totally bonkers for you." Kiyett rolled her eyes, clearly wondering why anyone would ever be interested in her mother, then grinned wickedly. "You should totally do her in the back of the taxi."

"Kay! That's horrible."

"Get the stick out of your ass mom. Just scooch over real close, play with her crest a bit. Most of the drivers are volus anymore, they won't even notice." Kiyett leered, but the effect was broken when she started laughing. "Ravish her mind, mother, and the fact that you totally look like something out of a twentieth century vid won't even register."

"I do not!" Liara protested a bit too forcefully, looking down at her clothes. Shepard had always liked them. The button down shirt, the canvas pants. A jacket with a bunch of little pockets on the inside. The last was actually very useful when she was on digs. "And her daughter is going to be there."

"Kinky. And you look like Indiana Jones, only blue and with breasts. You just need a fedora and a whip!"

"She's twenty-three." She was not about to admit that Shepard had, not long after they were married, bought her a fedora. And that it was - being very useful to keep the sun out of her eyes - packed in with her gear.

Kiyett frowned at Erra's age, but recovered quickly. Goddess forbid she decide not to tease her mother over something as trivial as that. "Well, hire a private car then. One with those opaque windows and let the kid ride up front with the driver. Then have your wicked way with her mother." They had entered the dock proper, and were waiting to pass through security. "Remember Jenna? I doubt there's a vehicle this side of the Presidium we didn't do it in. She was handsy though. Humans usually are. Was dad? 'Cause, like, seriously. Jimmy's pretty cool about it though."

"I honestly did not need to know that. And I do not think that I need sexual advice from my daughter. I changed your diapers."

"Speaking of, when can I expect a little sister? You are gonna make her do the work though, aren't you?"

Liara smacked Kiyett's arm, not nearly as hard as she wanted to. "You can stop expecting siblings right now. Just because you're an adult doesn't mean I can't still ground you."

"You are about as fun as a pile of quick sand. No, actually, the quick sand at least would be a thrill. You need to lighten up, mom. Stop being such a prude. And just so you're aware, this is completely and utterly in retaliation for all those times you called me when I was having sex and asked 'So, what are you doing?' and it would have been way too awkward to tell you the truth."

"The proper response when I do that is to not answer your omni in the first place," Liara said dryly. She would not think about her daughter having sex. She would not think about her daughter having sex. She would not-

"You'd just call right back. I know you. Can't keep your nose out of my business."

They passed through security before Liara could respond. She spotted Teiron and Erra waiting for her and decided she'd just let Kiyett have the last word. Erra was bouncing up and down, arms waving in the air. Teiron looked slightly uncomfortable, and the feeling began to consume Liara as well. It had been two weeks. Had Teiron told Erra about them? What was she expecting? She'd been so disappointed when Liara had explained that she would be leaving for the Hegemony in three months, and Liara wasn't certain that she hadn't asked to be here today to call whatever they'd had over the weekend quits. She forced herself to smile, though. Whatever the outcome, that weekend had been the best of her life since Shepard had died, and she'd cherish it even if it was all they had.

"I like your face," Erra told Kiyett as mother and daughter approached. It had the sound of a rehearsed statement. Kiyett beamed at her.

"I like your shirt. What are the flowers singing?"

Erra shrugged, said something else, Kiyett responded. But Liara wasn't listening. There was a rushing in her head, a tingling in her spine. When her eyes met Teiron's it was as if time slowed. There were no more questions.

"Hey," she whispered, dropping her bags and coming to stand much too close considering they were in the middle of a crowded docking bay.

"Hey," Teiron answered. She was smiling, and some of the uncertainty Liara had seen in her faded away. She wasn't exactly sure what made her do it, but she leaned forward and caught Teiron's lips with hers.

She had meant it to be a soft brushing of lips. Casual, friendly. A it's-nice-to-see-you-but-anyone-looking-could-assume-we-were-sisters sort of kiss. The next thing she knew though, her fingers were digging into Teiron's crest, holding her head as she reacquainted herself with the inside of her mouth. The kiss finally broke, and she knew she must look a fool; a silly grin breaking her face.

"Hey," she said again.

Teiron laughed and leaned her forehead against hers. "Next time, warn me okay? I wouldn't have eaten all that garlic bread at lunch."

Liara laughed, an easy relaxed laugh that came from deep inside her belly.

"Mommy! Look what Kiyett did!" Erra giggled. "Now I look like her!"

Liara watched as Teiron's eyes grew wide, and turned. Kiyett had used her eyeliner and traced Erra's markings in it. "Oh Goddess, I'm sorry," she breathed, hands going to her mouth. "Kiyett, what on earth were you thinking?"

"I was thinking she'll look completely awesome," Kiyett said, holding up a fist. Erra bumped her smaller one against it with a giggle. "Anyway, I see Jimmy coming off the elevator. See ya mom." She hefted her bag on her shoulder and marched off.

Liara turned to Teiron as she walked away, prepared to make any apology she could for her daughter's actions. She didn't know where her youngest got it. She was a mix of all the worst of her father and her grandfather. It was what she got for mapping on the fly, she supposed. Teiron though, didn't look upset. She was shaking her head slowly, but smiling. She shrugged, and they began walking toward the taxi stand.

Erra skipped ahead of them, stopping perhaps ten feet ahead, then waiting for them to close the distance before skipping off again. Liara slipped her hand into Teiron's, their fingers entwined.

"I'm sorry she did that," she said as they got closer to the taxi.

"Don't worry about it," Teiron laughed. "It's bath night anyway."

That got Erra's attention, and she spun around quickly, babbling on about all she was going to show Liara when they got to the baths. Liara shared a look with Teiron, glancing down at their joined hands. Teiron knelt in front of Erra, letting Liara's hand drop.

"Erra, baby, I explained this to you before. Liara can't come with us tonight, okay?"

"But that's not fair! She always comes! And I've been practicing holding my breath! And I washed between my neck folds just like you said! It's not fair!" she cried. "And, I'm not a baby," she murmured as an afterthought.

Teiron looked up and Liara and sighed, "Maybe tonight's not such a good night. I'm sorry."

"What? No!" Erra interrupted. "She can just come with us!"

Liara felt a slow ache in her chest. She would never, not if she lived forever, get between Teiron and her daughter. She would walk away before she upset the girl. "Look, I need to unpack anyway. And I have to call the University about the dig. So, why don't you go with your mom to the baths, Erra, and I'll come by with dinner, after? It'll be faster, and you can show me how well you can hold your breath later." Teiron's smile could not have said 'thank you' any plainer.

"Pizza," Erra said, and the matter was settled.

Three hours later, Liara was standing in front of Teiron's door, pizza balanced in one hand as she rang the bell with the other.

She was late.

She was very late.

It had started simply enough with an inability to decide on whether it would presumptuous to bring a change of clothes with her. She'd packed the overnight bag, then decided that, yes, given that it had been two weeks since they'd seen each other it would not be wise to just assume she'd be staying the night. She'd unpacked the bag, but had thought that if she did end up staying over she didn't want to have to put on the clothes she'd spent all day traveling in back on in the morning.

It had taken her almost half an hour to decide on what to wear. Shepard had once noted that there was an inverse relationship between how attractive an outfit was and how easy it was to remove. She'd said that she'd take baggy sweat clothes over a sexy, tight-fitting dress any day. Liara had, and still did, believe that she had just said that because Illira had been two at the time and had just learned to walk, so in general when Shepard's ship docked at the Citadel sweatpants were Liara's usual clothing of choice.

She finally settled on the dress she'd worn the day they had met on the Presidium.

And she'd still had to pick up the pizza. Since she'd said she'd be there almost an hour earlier, she tried to look as apologetic as possible as the door slid open.

Teiron looked worn. Her shoulders sagged, and her smile was slightly forced as she stepped aside to let Liara in. She might have imagined it, but Liara thought she saw her eyes dart to her hand and that she looked just a little bit worse off when she found it empty.

"Hey," Teiron sighed, "Come in. You can put that on the table."

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes. No. Erra threw a fit in the bath. Rose a riot like a hellion and nearly got us kicked out. She's in her room."

"I'm so sorry. Do you want me to take her dinner into her?"

Teiron shook her head, sliding down into one of the dining chairs. "She's not in trouble. I understand what's going on. My mother bonded an elcor when I was about Erra's age, a few years after my dad died. Harlen was a good guy, I liked him, but, I couldn't like him. That makes no sense. He had this wicked, dry sense of humor. I told the school he threatened to kill me."

"Elcor have a sense of humor?"

"That's what you took from that?" Teiron laughed. "But, yeah." Her voice lost all inflection when she spoke again. "Humorous. If you do not finish your vegetables, I will have to step on you."

"And you conveniently forgot to mention he'd prefaced it as a joke."

"Exactly. We became really good friends, eventually. He was always threatening to step on me, or sit on me. I would tell him I planned on saddling him and entering him into a riding competition. It was pretty awesome. But I felt like he was stealing my mom at first. And I couldn't allow that, no matter how much I liked him."

Liara nodded, tears stinging her eyes. "I understand. Do you, um, should I talk to her?"

"Yeah. I...look, I'd really like you to stay. I really, _really_ want you to stay, but if she's upset-"

"No. I'll talk to her, and then I'll go."

She didn't wait for Teiron to respond, and went back to Erra's room. She was sitting on the floor, scrolling through a children's game pad. She didn't look up when Liara entered, but finally caught her eye when Liara lowered herself to the floor in front of her.

"I heard you got in trouble at the bath." Erra shrugged, but didn't answer. "Is it something you want to talk about?"

There was a long silence. "I thought you liked us," Erra finally yelled, throwing the game pad across the room. "You're always coming around and Milyn said that when her mom got her new boyfriend he used to come around all the time and that they did stuff together and then he moved all his stuff over. But you took your stuff back to your place, and you didn't want to come to the bath with us even though you _always_ do when you're here. And are you my mom's girlfriend or not?" She'd stood up at some point during the tirade and crossed her arms, tears streaming down her face. "Don't you like us?"

"Oh, Erra," Liara breathed. "I like you very much. I love your mom, so much sometimes it makes my chest hurt. But it's very complicated. There are," she sighed, trying to think of a term the girl would understand. "You know when you get a new toy? One you've wanted for a very long time? And you want to take it everywhere with you, and you don't want it out of your sight? But you know, deep down, that if you do that you might break it. So, at first, you keep it at home where it's safe." She stopped, laughed, even as Erra nodded. "That is actually a very bad analogy. When you are older you will never forgive me for using it. I don't want this to break, Erra. I have to go away in a few weeks for a long time, but until I have to go, I'll do what I can to make sure I'm here when you want me to be. And not when you want to be alone with your mom, okay?"

"Okay," Erra sniffled.

"Now, I brought pizza, with extra pepperoni because your mother does not believe that is an actual food and I plan to prove her wrong." Erra giggled, though she was still crying. "And I think you should say sorry to your mom, too. She loves you very much."

Erra nodded, then shot forward, throwing her arms around Liara's neck. "I love you, Liara."

Liara felt her breath catch. She smiled, shocked, and wrapped her arms around the girl, patting her back. "I love you, too, Erra. I love you, too."


	11. Chapter 11

**So, this became decidedly more depressing than I intended there at the end. This is the truncated version in which I do not rant. I wanted a happy reunion. Liara wouldn't let me have it without all the rest. I just don't think that's very nice of her. Oh, and kudos if you spot the Kingkiller reference :D**

* * *

"Are you having fun with your dad, little one?" Liara asked, leaning close to the vid screen. The reception was terrible, she was a good hundred feet below ground, but the sight of Kiyett warmed her heart.

"Yeah. Illy says camping with you's more fun though. Dad almost set the tent on fire."

Liara laughed. It wasn't the first time Shepard had built the fire too close to the tents. Shepard had grown up on ships and in boarding schools and her outdoor training with the Alliance had not prepared her for camping with small children. Liara, who had spent years living in cramped, dirty conditions while on digs, and found that most research assistants were about as helpful as your average fifteen year old, was unusually better suited to recreational outdoorsmanship than her bondmate.

"Everyone's okay, aren't they?" She knew they were. Shepard would have called if anything had happened.

"Yeah. Allison refuses to go inside now though. She's sleeping with dad."

"I wish I could be there, baby girl."

"Me too. When are you coming home?"

"It should only be a few more weeks. I found you a new rock for your collection, though."

Kiyett's eyes lit up, and she began bouncing. Shepard's omni tool, which was where Liara had called to talk to her girls, was tossed around and Liara had to look away or get sick. "What color is it? I found a pink one here, and a shiny purple one. And I found a fufferby too! But dad said I can't take that back home 'cause it's bad."

"A fufferby?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically. "Mmhmm, it's orange and black and its got wings that fold up on its back and dad said I can't touch them cause they have magic on their wings that makes them fly and that if I touch them then they won't be able to anymore. But Illy says that's not true, and it's only humans that can't touch them and that since I'm asari I don't have the thing that makes the magic go away. Illy says it isn't magic either, but I don't believe her. She also said there's no green cheese on Luna."

"Remember to breathe, little one. That's a butterfly, and your sister is right, it's not magic. But you still shouldn't touch their wings. You could hurt it accidentally. And the rock I found is orange and black too, like your butterfly."

"REALLY!" Liara saw Shepard lean into the picture, poking her head into the tent as Kiyett screamed.

"What's mommy telling you?" Shepard asked as the omni tool dropped to the floor and Kiyett ran out to tell her sisters about her newest treasure. Liara caught a yelled "Love you Mom!" from her youngest before the tent flap closed.

"I found her a new rock," Liara said, reaching out and running her fingers over the screen. It had been nearly a month since she'd been home and she missed waking up beside Shepard. Missed running her fingers though her hair. Missed the warm glow of her eyes when Shepard finally drug her away from her feeds or her research.

"It must be a very interesting one. She's found two just in the couple of days we've been on Earth."

"It looks like the monarch she found," Liara said, drinking in the grainy image of the woman she loved. She wanted to be home. She wanted away from the dirty dig and the angry academics. Combined with what Javik had told them over the years, what they were discovering here would lead to even further technological advancement, but while the thought of going on the dig had consumed her when she'd been invited, now that she was here, she just wanted to be home.

The prothean was in the other room currently. She had forgotten how annoying he could be. She hadn't been forced into his company when they'd awoken him, and hadn't seen him until this dig. He was more helpful than he had been, during the war, but he was about as friendly as a rabid varren.

"That would do it. I almost set fire to the tent. I told you sending me on this trip alone was a bad idea."

"Illira is forty-six, she should be more than capable of helping you. And we've taken these trips every other year since Kiyett was ten. I would think you would know better by this point."

"You would think that. You'd be wrong." That smile. Goddess, how had she ever made it through her digs before, how was she going to make it through this one?

"I think I might come home early," she said as Shepard called for Allison to come talk to her.

"Why? I think I can handle it now that everything is set up. We're only here another couple of days."

"I'm not terribly useful here anymore. And Glyph shouldn't be left on so long. It'd just be better if I was there."

"Don't be silly. Everything is under control. The tent wasn't even singed, you know how I exaggerate."

"It's not that," Liara sighed. "This isn't what I do anymore."

"Don't be silly, Liara. You've received more recognition in the last three years than you ever did when you were doing that full-time. Stay. Enjoy yourself. I got the munchkins under control."

Liara wanted to argue, but she couldn't think of what to say. She missed her family, that was what it came down to, and as good a reason as that was to come home, she didn't think it would be one Shepard would listen to. She was going to try anyway when Allison crawled into the tent.

"Hi mom!"

"Hey baby. I'll call again tonight, alright?" she told Shepard, who nodded and blew her a kiss.

When she'd spoken to all her girls and let the call end she stood up, popping her back. She looked around the camp, and thought of the one her family was sitting in. She sighed, wanting to be there, but knowing that Shepard was right. She could accomplish something here.

With sagging shoulders she went to the main dig site. She needed to get back to work.

* * *

Teiron rolled over, a hand snaking out to the other side of the bed. It was cold. Empty. As it had been for the last 276 days. She chided herself, again, for reaching for Liara, again, but secretly she was glad that after all this time she still expected her to be there. Of the slightly more than ninety days that Liara had lived on the Citadel, she'd only stayed until morning a small handful of times. Less than two dozen. But she'd been there almost every night. They'd cook dinner together, the way they had in Nos Astra, stealing food from cutting boards and frying pans. They'd spent untold hours curled up on the sofa, Erra on the floor in front of them, the news usually playing on the vid screen. They'd told her stories, fantastic tales of their maidenhoods. They left out the drinking, and how scary it was to be near death. And they didn't once mention that brief meeting on Cronos Station where Teiron had met Shepard for the first and only time. The girl had listened, raptly, and had insisted Liara be there when she went to bed.

Not that either of them would complain that Erra wanted her to stay late. They'd go to bed after Erra was asleep, forging memories that would have to keep them for the upcoming year. Liara would usually be gone when Teiron woke up, a note left on her omni tool, or handwritten and placed on the bedside table. Always the same.

_T, I didn't want to wake you. I love watching you sleep. I have meetings until late, I'll see you at dinner if Erra does not object. Always, ~L_

She'd only stay if neither of them didn't work in the morning. And then they'd make breakfast, stealing kisses until the smell woke Erra and she came shuffling blearily into the kitchen. It had been as near perfect as they could get with Liara's dig looming in front of them.

And it had ended 276 days ago. Liara had stayed the night, had fought wakefulness as long as possible the day she had to leave. She'd still been in bed when Teiron had gotten up and taken Erra to school. They made love one last time after Teiron came back, before she had to leave for work. It was slow and tender, everything their love-making usually wasn't, and then Liara had kissed her goodbye.

She'd wanted to take her to the docks herself, but she'd known that would have just ended in tears. She didn't want Liara's last memory of her to be of her crying. Again. It was nice to have a memory of a goodbye kiss that didn't taste like salt.

She looked over at the holo Liara had sent with her last letter, which had come a little over a month ago. She was dirty, covered head to toe in dust, her clothes wrinkled. But she was smiling, looking so proud as she held up their latest discovery. Teiron had no idea what they were looking for, just that they were on one of the batarian colony planets that had been wiped out in 2186. Liara had said something about evidence of life after the Reapers had left, but in all truth Teiron had only been half listening.

Four more months. That's what Liara had said in the letter Erra had gotten two weeks ago with a box of batarian chocolates and a collection of batarian card games for her birthday. It was barely a passing moment.

It was a life time.

With a sigh, Teiron rolled out of bed and made slow work of getting ready. She was walking out the door to take Erra off to school when her omni beeped. She let Erra skip on ahead, she'd grown up like a weed over the last year, and pulled it up. She growled as she read the message, and was tempted to throw the thing across the hall. Horus was unable to work her into the schedule, he was very sorry, but she'd been taking way too much overtime already.

She had, admittedly, not taken a day off in weeks. Unless she was lucky enough to pick up a day off on the weekends with Erra, she'd taken to picking up extra hours, or switching shifts with Lorse. It kept her mind off the fact that despite how she'd spent her entire life without her, she found herself somehow almost unable to function without Liara around now. It was sad. It was depressing. She sent a quick message to Lorse to see if he wanted the afternoon off.

He hadn't responded by the time she'd made it home, and she was left with trying to decide what to do with her morning. She cleaned.

Laundry.

Dishes.

She reorganized Erra's room and packed up the toys she no longer played with.

She rearranged the bedroom.

As morning turned to afternoon, she found herself checking her omni, hoping for a message from Lorse. Or better, one from Liara. She wanted to be able to call her, to find out how she was doing. Communication restrictions in and out of the Hegemony made that impossible, the letters that Liara was able to get out a small miracle. She took a step backwards out of the bedroom, eying the new placement of the furniture and nodded to herself.

She flopped down on the sofa, wondering exactly what to do with herself now. She should try to call Lorse again, but it was getting a little late for that, and there wasn't much point in going in if she'd just have to turn around and leave to pick Erra up. She eyed the open holovid package leaning against the leg of the coffee table. She'd bought the collection of cartoons for her daughter, the tales of the Justicar Fela and her faithful sidekick the turian Kote. They traveled the length of the galaxy rooting out injustice and trying to stop the evil Lady Hellinbore from enslaving all the council races. It was some of the worst vids she'd ever seen, but Erra had become mildly obsessed with them. There was a recently released full-length movie playing at the local cinema, and Erra had been begging to go. Teiron had been putting it off, not wanting to sit through it. She had just brought up the show times to take Erra to see it that evening when there was a quiet knocking at the door.

The door chime didn't beep, there was a physical banging on the door. She considered ignoring it. Usually that just meant that a group of adolescents were passing by and trying to make trouble. Still, yelling at them would be a welcome distraction to sitting around twiddling her thumbs until Erra got out of school. She practiced her best angry neighbor face a few times before opening the door.

"Didn't your mother- Liara?" She blinked, thinking perhaps the leftovers she'd had for lunch had been bad, but the image in front of her did not waver.

Loaded down with a half-dozen bags, slightly discolored from her time under a foreign sun, her clothes wrinkled and smudged with dirt, Liara stood in the hallway.

"Happy anniversary?" she said with a shrug, hefting her bags and sliding past Teiron as the other woman stepped out of the way. She dropped her bags just inside the door and shrugged out of the light jacket she was wearing.

"I wasn't expecting you back for another three months. What are you doing back so soon?" Liara shrugged again, and started to tell her, when Teiron realized she really didn't care. She was back. Nine months she'd been gone but now she was standing in her living room, still covered in the dust and grime of her travels. She was back. She was here. Before Liara could get so much as three words out Teiron closed the distance between them and kissed her, stopping anything she might have said. "I missed you," she said against Liara's lips, her arms snaking behind her.

"I missed you too. The door's still open," Liara muttered with a laugh, and Teiron found she'd forgotten how much she loved that sound. Teiron blindly reached out and banged at the wall, completely missing the button to close it. She pulled away long enough to shut the door, then buried her face in the crook of Liara's neck.

"I missed you," she said again. That earned another chuckle.

Teiron wasn't sure how much later, but certainly hours, that she found herself lying across the bed, her head pillowed on Liara's stomach. The other woman was idly playing with her crest. They'd been lying quietly for a while, just content to be near each other again after so long. She kept expecting to wake up. To find it was all a dream and that her alarm would be going off any minute and Erra would be banging on her door because she was late for school. She focused on the feel of Liara's hand as it gently massaged between the fronds of her crest. She focused on the soft rise and fall of her head as Liara breathed. She left her eyes drift shut and listened to the sound of their breathing.

She rolled her side, planting an open-mouthed kiss beneath Liara's breast. She supposed she should find out if Liara was staying, and why she was here so early. "You told Erra you wouldn't be back for another few months. You caught me completely unaware." She placed another kiss beneath Liara's other breast.

Liara sighed, shifted, scooting up to sit against the headboard. Teiron moved with her, laying her head on her shoulder and resting her hand over Liara's bellybutton. "We...uh...we were working on one of the colony worlds. Early evidence showed that the husks that had been left alive after the Reapers were destroyed had built up a primitive society before dying out a few years after the war – the, um, the invasion. Right up until about two weeks ago everything seemed to support that, that the husks had regained some independent intelligence.

"I was working with a Dr. Balie T'Prei, we, um, we went to school together. She was focused more on asari anthropology, but about fifty years ago or so she moved into xeno-anthropology. She was the one who worked to get funding for the dig." Liara closed her eyes, and drew Teiron closer to her before continuing. "Last week we found a mass grave. Some nine hundred maybe a thousand or so batarians. Women and children mainly. They had all been shot. I don't know enough to say whether what she found is true or not, but Balie said the wounds to the bone were more consistent with batarian side arms than with the Reaper weapon damage we'd found on the other bodies.

"We had a contingent of batarian soldiers guarding us, for our safety, they said. When the grave was discovered, they ordered us to transfer to another world. She, um, confronted them. They shot her." Liara choked back a startled sob, and Teiron pulled her head to her breast and kissed the top of it.

"How did you...what did you do?"

"I was suddenly responsible for nearly a hundred grad students. I told the batarians we had everything we needed and that we'd leave. I transmitted what findings I could over a secure line they couldn't trace, packed up what little physical evidence I could get ahold of then got everyone out as fast as I could."

"They couldn't have just let you leave after what you found. You can't let them get away with it." She wasn't sure what she wanted. There was a burning in her throat and chest at the thought that Liara had almost died, maybe taken as slave labor, light years away from anywhere Teiron could do anything about it, but at the same time she couldn't help but think of the horror of the batarian government ordering the slaughter of their own people.

"I'm not going to, but I had the lives of Balie's students, of my students, to look out for. I left enough of our findings behind that the soldiers didn't think I had enough to be a threat. And even though almost none of students had any real biotics training outside basic education, we'd have been fairly difficult to take out without drawing attention."

"Do you know why they killed them?"

"I don't think any of the husks survived. I think the Reapers hadn't finished wiping out that planet and that when the government finally got around to going there to look for survivors they found their own people, people that had been outside the scope of their laws now for almost a half century. Most of the people living there probably didn't even know what the Hegemony was. It's likely they resisted reintegration and were killed for their trouble. There is also the chance that they were indoctrinated and the batarians had no choice but to kill them. We can't know for certain."

"Of course they'd have a choice!" Teiron snapped. How could Liara think that there would be any reason how the slaughter of unarmed civilians could be justified.

"You never saw the results of Reaper indoctrination. Saren, the Illusive Man – Jack Harper – my mother. It might have been a mercy, what they did. It's been two centuries, we have no way of knowing."

"So what? You'll just let the Hegemony continue to kill their people?"

"No, Teiron," Liara whispered. Her voice was strained, and Teiron mentally kicked herself when she saw a single tear roll down the other woman's face. "I will report what I found to the council, to the university, but the batarians are not a council species. I'll send it to the geth, maybe they and the quarians can do something. But I won't condemn the souls of the men that killed those people without knowing if the Reapers had gotten to them first."

"Fuck," Teiron breathed. She knew that Liara knew more about what happened when the batarians were attacked back in 2186 than she usually let on. She'd never considered that that knowledge would be enough to excuse the death of hundreds.

"That's a fairly accurate statement, yes."

"Are...are you okay?"

"It was hardly the worst thing I have ever seen. Being here helps."

"I do what I can," Teiron said with a goofy grin. She didn't know why but that smile always made Liara light up, and it didn't disappoint this time as she leaned down and kissed her.

"You do more than you know. I was thinking," she said, as she rolled them over and pinned Teiron to the bed, "I have to go back to Thessia in a couple of weeks to report to the University. Erra's never been there. The zoo is fantastic. Have you ever been to Serrice?"

"I haven't," Teiron said, "But I can't take off work."

"It's been taken care of. Horus owes me a favor or six."

"You are aware that it is strange that my boss owes you favors, right?"

"Mmn, yes. So, will you come with me?"

"On one condition," Teiron said, reversing their position, "you come with me when I take Erra to the movies tonight." She kissed her without waiting for an answer.

They were late picking Erra up from school, but from the way the girl launched herself into Liara's arms and could barely be quiet during the movie, neither thought she cared much.


	12. Chapter 12

Illira was asleep in the stroller. Liara was asleep against her side. Shepard thought she was just about the luckiest woman in the world. Shepard's two-week leave was being split between their home on the Citadel and this theme park on North America's west coast. The park was about to close, and Shepard had found a comfortable spot where they'd be able to watch the end of day parade, and the fireworks after. She'd staked out the spot early, but hadn't expected her companions to fall asleep on her. She hugged Liara close, using a foot to push the stroller back and forth. It was getting a bit crowded for that, but the last thing she wanted was for Illira to start screaming. The girl had one hell of a set of pipes.

A pair of human twins raced by and jostled the stroller. Illira woke with a start and began fussing. Shepard sighed and leaned over to pick the girl up before she started screaming. Liara didn't so much as budge. She had always been a deep sleeper, and since Shepard had gotten that excited 'She slept through the night!' message months before, it appeared Liara had fallen back into it. Shepard loved the way Liara looked when she was sleeping, and certainly didn't begrudge her ability to nap among the chaos.

"Hey there, little one. My goodness but you've gotten big. Daddy keeps missing out on stuff, doesn't she?" At just under five, Illira was slightly smaller than a human two-year old. Shepard tucked her up against her chest and tickled her belly. She squealed, if a little sleepily. "You just keep growing like a weed, don't you? My little beanstalk, spouting up over night. You better slow it down a little. I don't know if Momma's gonna keep up."

"Momma," Illira agreed, pointing at Liara.

"That's right, my little beanstalk. Momma's sleeping. We're going to let her be, aren't we, and we're gonna watch the parade together. Yes, indeedy." She kissed the tip of the girl's nose.

"Dada," she got in response.

Shepard chuckled. "Well, you certainly inherited your mother's way with words. Oh, look up there, baby girl. Daddy used to live riiiight...there. See where the little dark spot is on the moon."

The girl followed the line of her father's finger and her eyes went wide. She turned, burying her face in Shepard's shoulder. "Izza BOOM!" she cried.

Shepard laughed. "No, the moon's not going to fall on us. It spins around and around the earth. And it's made of cheese, yummy green cheese. I used to have it for breakfast every morning."

Illira giggled, "No. No heeze."

"No cheese? You don't believe me? Well, where do you think cheese comes from?"

"Moooooooooo! Moooo!" Illira giggled and grabbed onto her father's hair. "Moo!"

"Okay, okay. I admit. Some cheese comes from cows. Moo-cows, even. But, I was there, I saw it."

Different fingers extracted Illira's from her hair. "What did you see?" Liara asked.

"Dada boom, heeze no moo," Illira said, pointing at the moon. Her face a perfect echo of her mother's, creased in perfect seriousness.

"You did not tell her the green cheese story, did you Shepard?"

"Of course I did! You didn't?"

"Of course not. The moon is made of rock." She held out her arms and Illira leaned into them. Music started playing, and the crowds surged forward.

"No rock. Boom heeze. Moo-cow no heeze."

"Alright, little one. The moon is made of cheese. I'll just let your father deal with the repercussions when you find out it's not."

"Mooooo!" Illira said again.

"Give her here, spoil sport," Shepard said, retaking her daughter and kissing Liara softly on the forehead. "Every kid needs to think the moon is made of cheese. I did, and I lived on a spaceship. Didn't even see the moon until I was ten. So," Shepard stuck her tongue out at Liara, a move copied by Illira.

Liara rolled her eyes as they stood up and moved closer to the edge of the sidewalk. She tucked herself back up against Shepard's side and watched with tense caution as the human woman swung their daughter up onto her shoulders. "Be careful, Shepard," she warned even as she smiled at the giant grin on her daughter's face.

"Spoil sport.," Shepard said again, "That is what you are, and you're lucky I love you. Can you see okay, beanstalk?"

"Dada moooo!"

Shepard did as she was told, which brought a laugh from both mother and daughter. "Beanstalk?" Liara asked.

"It was that or weed. And she likes it."

The parade started before Liara could answer, and they stood listening to their daughter's broken commentary on the parade.

* * *

Erra sat down heavily on her suitcase and stared down the dark hallway toward her mother's room. They were still asleep. Sure, she knew they'd been up late, packing up the last of the things for the trip and cleaning and all the weird stuff that adults do to prepare for a trip, but she'd been up hours ago, well for at least an hour anyway, and she was certain that if they didn't get up soon they would all be late. She got up, pacing the living room. She could go play in her room. That's what she normally did when she was up before her mom. All her good toys, though, were packed into her school shoulder bag so she could have them while they traveled. Her mom had been very specific that she was not to unpack it until they were on the ship.

She bounced around, wondering if just barging into her moms room and demanding they wake up would get her in trouble. Until Liara her mom had never slept with the bedroom door closed, and there had been more that a few nights, especially when the station was having electrical problems, when Erra had slipped down the hall and crawled into bed beside her mother. Liara always seemed concerned, though, about her coming back there. The door was never locked, but Erra knew she hated it when her mom barged into her room when the door was closed, and figured her mom probably wouldn't like it anymore than she did. She skipped her way back to the door and stood in front of it, listening intently to see if they were awake.

Not a sound filtered through from the other side and Erra sighed dramatically. How long were they going to be? How could they sleep when they were about to go to _Thessia?_ That's where her mom had been born. Where Liara had been born and grown up. Where Liara lived most of the time now. And, to top it all off, she was getting out of school two weeks early for the trip. It was just about the best thing ever.

And they were going to miss it if they didn't get up soon.

Her stomach grumbled and she stuck her tongue out at the closed door. They really needed to get their act together and wake up. She was, perhaps, a bit over dramatic in the way she clutched her stomach as she walked into the kitchen, but her hope was that her mom would hear her moans of hunger and finally get up. She really wasn't all that hungry, but her mother didn't need to know that. She pursed her lips and stood in the middle of the kitchen, still listening for any sounds of movement from the back of the apartment.

There were none, and Erra huffed and stomped her foot down hard. Hard enough that her foot sort of tingled afterward and she regretted it. Muttering to herself about how they were all going to be horribly, terribly late and it would all be her moms fault she dug through a cupboard until she found a box of breakfast pastries. She wasn't allowed to use the toaster anymore, since she'd accidentally left oven mitt on top of it and almost set the place on fire, but the heavily processed food tasted just fine cold. She ripped open the package and made a small dash into the living room before flinging herself bodily onto the sofa. She bounced once, and laughed, before tucking herself into a corner of the sofa and turning the vid screen on.

It had just occurred to her that it might be worth turning the volume up to try to push the still-sleeping adults into gear when she heard her mom's alarm go off. It was snapped off quickly, and Erra sat up straighter, listening to see if her mom would actually get up or not. She was usually pretty good about not falling back asleep after her alarm went off, unlike Erra who did her best to just roll back over and hide under the pillows. With the door closed, Erra was really too far away to hear anything, but she strained to anyway. She guessed her mom knew when she needed to be up so they wouldn't be late, but Erra was still convinced they would be.

The bedroom door slid open a bit later and Liara walked out, dressed except for her shoes. She yawned, rubbing at the back of her neck. She smiled at Erra as she passed by into the kitchen. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked as the smell of coffee filled the small apartment. Erra's mom had never kept the stuff, drinking the less-bitter asari equivalent, but since Liara had become a mostly-permanent fixture in the house weeks earlier, coffee had become the adults morning drink of choice.

"We're leaving today," Erra answered, kneeling on the sofa and leaning over the back to watch Liara fiddle around the kitchen. Liara sighed as she took the first sip of the hot, black liquid and Erra wrinkled her nose. It smelled good enough, but her mom had let her try a sip once and it was so gross. Her mom put milk in it, but Erra wasn't sure how that would make it any better.

"We don't have to leave for quite a while yet. How long have you been up?" She sat down beside Erra and yawned again.

"I dunno. It's been forever though! I kept waiting and waiting and waiting. I thought we were gonna be late," she huffed, bouncing on the sofa again as she spun to sit the right way around.

"I'm up now," she patted her lap, "why don't you take a nap while we wait for your mom to get ready? I'd hate you to sleep through the whole trip."

Erra was not at all tired. Not even a little bit. Just because her eyes were kind of droopy and Liara's yawns had prompted more that a few of her own did not make her tired. Still, she didn't want to upset Liara. No, Liara was the best. So she laid down, her head pillowed on Liara's lap, humming contentedly as she felt Liara brush at her crest the same way her mom did. She fought sleep, because of course, she wasn't tired in the slightest, but then Liara began to hum, a soft asari lullaby, and Erra drifted off to sleep.

She couldn't have been asleep very long when she awoke again. Liara was still sipping from her coffee mug, but she could hear someone in the kitchen too. As she stirred she felt Liara shift, turn, and heard her mom giggle. It was odd hearing that sound coming from her mother. It was light, and girly, nothing she'd ever normally associate with her mom. She got up and stretched, and her mom leaned over the back of the sofa. She kissed the top of her crest, then kissed Liara on the lips. They rubbed noses and Erra rolled her eyes.

She liked that her mom was happy. And she liked Liara. She was fairly certain that Liara would make the best step dad ever in the whole galaxy. Still, it was just weird watching them be all cutesy together. Like one of those bad human teen vids her mom didn't like her watching but she did anyway. She interrupted before they could start whispering to each other in that false, giggly voice they seemed to like so much since Liara came back from working with the Batarians.

"Are we going now?"

Her mom smiled at her and hugged her from the back of the couch. She struggled to get away. Back-of-couch hugs were usually a precursor to being tickled.

Sure enough, she wasn't fast enough and her mother attacked her sides. Erra gasped for breath as she laughed. Asari usually grew out of being ticklish once they hit puberty, and her mother had made it her mission, apparently, to tickle her as much as possible before Erra reached that point. "We're almost ready. Excited?"

Erra tried to answer, but her 'yes' came out more of squeal. Liara finally saved her, running a hand down her mother's arm and laughing at her. Her mom turned her attention away then, attempting to tickle Liara even though they all knew it was a lost cause.

Liara laughed anyway, and Erra smiled up at them as she caught her breath. They moved away whispering again, and Erra made a point of turning around and ignoring them. It wasn't like she didn't know they melded. She was twenty-four years old, for goodness sakes. And while she might still be a little iffy on what exactly the Joining entailed (her friend Milyn had said that it was like dreaming when you were awake, only with someone else in your dream, but she'd heard one of the older girls in the upper class say that it was like a pickup game of skyball – lots of work and the reward wasn't what you thought it would be. Erra didn't know what she meant by that, but didn't think that sounded anything like dreaming), she did know that was how babies were made. She turned suddenly. Uhg, she hoped they weren't making her a sister in the kitchen right now. They'd have to name her 'Bologna' or something equally nasty then. They weren't doing anything strange though, nothing they didn't normally do anyway. And neither of their eyes were black, which was about the only consistent information she could get from her friends about the Joining.

In fact, it was almost as if they were arguing. Her mom was shaking her head, and Liara was...Erra thought she might be pouting. She turned away again. Liara pouting was just not something she'd ever think she'd see. Moments later they were both back, and if they had been fighting there was no evidence of it.

"You ready to go, little one?" her mom asked, grabbing their bags.

She squealed delightedly, "I have been forever!"

As they walked through the ward toward the elevator that would take them to the docks, Erra told them every last detail she had learned about Thessia. Her mother and Liara shared a look, grinning as she barely took the time to take a breath.

They seemed to take the long way to the docks. They stopped and got breakfast at a salarian diner, and as they approached the dock Erra heard the last call for boarding. She raced forward, her school bag flying behind her.

"I told you we'd be late! Hurry hurry hurry!" She ran ahead of them, glaring over her shoulder when they didn't run to catch up. She hopped in place just in front of the airlock doors, waving them over to her. The asari matron standing beside her smiled down at her, and Erra glared up at her. "You won't leave without us, right?" she asked.

"Of course not, now that you're here." Liara held her omni-tool over a scanning pad the woman held once she'd joined them. "Have a fun trip!" she called as Erra took her mom's hand and Liara's and drug them into the airlock.

It wasn't until they were seated in the shuttle that Erra realized that this little ship would never make it all the way to Thessia. It probably wouldn't even survive a relay jump. There were a half-dozen other occupants, all asari, seated around the small shuttle.

"Mom?" she asked, "I don't think we're on the right ship." She felt mildly panicked. What if they had missed the actual ship to Thessia? What if they couldn't get there? She'd been looking forward to this trip since Liara had gotten back from her work trip and said they'd be going. That was like...a month ago or something! She looked plaintively up at her mom.

"It's the ship. This shuttle is going to take us to the ship that's taking us to Thessia."

Liara leaned over, resting her head on her mom's shoulder. "See, I told you we should have told her before. Can I now?"

"No," her mom said, her eyes narrowing. She shoved Liara off her playfully, and pointed out the shuttles portal. "Keep watching, you'll be able to see it before we get there."

Erra pressed her nose to the glass as the shuttle moved away. There were a small collection of ships floating around in the space between the ward arms, but they were clearly not headed for any of them. The shuttle banked, flying out of the Citadel completely.

"Mom?" she squeaked.

"Shh, Erra. Keep looking." Her mom put a hand on her back and leaned over the top of her head to watch with her. Erra could hear Liara laughing softly to herself.

There weren't many ships that were too large to dock on the Citadel directly. Erra saw a geth dreadnought, a few smaller geth and quarian ships floating around it. They had talked about its arrival in school on Friday. They had apparently caught a turian criminal that had been hiding out in the Terminus systems. Erra didn't know much about it, she found all that stuff really boring, but his transport back to Citadel space had required one of the largest geth and quarian migrations since the end of the quarian exile. She pressed her face closer to the glass. Maybe they would be going on that?

But no, they turned away from it.

A handful of human ships; these too they did not approach. A salarian cruiser floated by, and Erra looked back at her mom expectantly. She shook her head and Erra pressed her nose once more against the window.

And then she saw it.

Floating in the blackness of space, large and beautiful. She gasped, put her hands on either side of her head and tried to push herself through the glass. It couldn't be. They couldn't be going on _that._

"Goddess," she breathed, "are we really? Oh my. We're taking...we're going on..." Her face lit up, and she could barely sit still. This was the best thing ever. Better than having Liara around all the time. Better than getting out of school. Better than the promise of all the things her mom said they could do on this trip. This was by far the best thing that had ever or would ever happen, ever.

Her mother laughed and elbowed Liara. "See, I told you it would be worth it to not say a word."

"But that's," Erra started.

"The Destiny Ascension, yes," Liara finished for her.

"It's like...the biggest ship ever!" Erra cried. A few of the other passengers looked over at them. One smiled, the others glared. "And you saved it!"

Liara grinned, "Keep your voice down, sweetheart. And Shepard saved it. But yes, it was, and to some degree still is, the asari flagship. You know, my own daughter's have never even been aboard? It was still a military vessel when they were small."

Erra's eyes widened. She felt, suddenly, very special, but she didn't really know why. Liara did stuff with her and her mom than she hadn't done with Shepard and her daughters all the time because Shepard had been human. "This is so cool," she whispered.

The shuttle docked on the ship and her mom held her back while the other asari boarded the larger ship. She clung to her bag, ready to run as soon as her mom let her go. She didn't though, and held tight to her hand as they moved off the small shuttle. Erra's eyes went wide again when she saw who was waiting for them on the other side.

Matriarch Tevos had retired from the council when Erra had been just a baby, but she had served for longer than any other asari councilor in the almost three millennium since the founding of the council. Most hung around for a hundred years or so and then moved on to other things, but the matron councilor had served for over three hundred years. Erra's teacher before Illira had spent two whole weeks on Tevos and how the council had changed while she had been there. Erra didn't know what she was doing here, but besides Liara this was the most famous person Erra had ever seen. She stared up at her in awe.

"Dr. T'Soni," Tevos said, holding out a hand, "And these are?"

"It's Liara, how many times must I tell you? And this is my friend Teiron, we spoke of her? And her daughter Erra."

Tevos held out a hand to her mom and they shook, but Erra wasn't paying much attention. Her eyes were drawn to carvings in the metal of the ships bulkheads. She'd never had much interest in ships, but when she had learned that this particular asari ship had had the bulkheads acid etched by one of the leading asari artists of the time (and she still was, over two hundred years later, really) Erra had made the Destiny Ascension her new favorite thing. And she was standing in it. Standing in it and was going to be going to Thessia in it.

It was amazing!

The only thing keeping her from running through the ship was her mother's hand holding hers. She was so distracted by the artwork that she jumped a little when Tevos knelt down in front her.

"How would you like to see the rest of the ship," she asked. Erra looked up at her mom. She was smiling down at her. It was that one smile, the one that said they had just been talking about her and she'd been completely oblivious. She got that smile a lot around Liara anymore. Erra didn't like it. Still, the promise of seeing more of the ship was too much to pass up.

"Yes, please, ma'am."

"So polite!" Tevos laughed, "I see you haven't known her long enough to corrupt her, Liara. I seem to remember a certain child putting worms in my lunch while I was speaking with her mother. And she most certainly never said 'please'. And then another set of girls doing much the same thing. Or was that you again, and just blaming your own daughters?"

Liara stammered, but finally just settled on glaring at the Matriarch.

"I really have to hear this story!" Erra's shoulder's sagged as her mom spoke. So much for her tour.

"I will tell it as we walk," Tevos said, urging them forward. Erra didn't hear a word of what Tevos told her mother, but she didn't much care. She was on the Destiny Ascension. And she was going to Thessia.

And best of all, she didn't have to worry about school again for weeks.


	13. Chapter 13

"Illy's got a giiiiirlfriend!" Allison called as all three girls came barreling through the front door.

"I do not! Shut up!" Illira shouted, fists clenched at her sides.

"I saw you! You were tongue kissing Calle after biotic practice," Kiyett put in.

Illira had no immediate response to this and stood in the foyer in a rage. Her biotics, which were sporadic at the best of times even now, flared weakly. She glared at her sisters. "Just shut up! Shut up. Shut up. Shut up."

"What's going on in here?" Shepard asked, rounding the corner from the living room.

"Illy and Calle, sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Allison chanted.

"I hate you!" Illira cried, throwing her school bag at the wall. The bottom broke and her books tumbled into a pile on the tile floor. Her sisters cackled with glee. They glanced briefly at their father, trying to gauge whether she was angry or not. She looked amused, however, so they continued their taunts.

"What's this about a girlfriend, Beanstalk? Have we met her? You must have a picture," Shepard prodded, smiling. She'd have to torment the girl with her small arms collection of course, and only wished she'd taken Tali up on her offer of teaching her shoot a shotgun all those years ago. She'd have to call Tali's grandson and see if he'd be willing, now that the first of her daughters was dating. "Do I need to give you The Talk?"

"Ugh, no! I don't have a girl friend!"

"What's this about a girlfriend?" Liara asked, joining the rest of the family at the foot of the stairs.

The younger girls started up their chant again, and Illira stomped up the stairs in a huff. Liara looked at her younger two oddly until they switched to another rhyme.

"Illy found it first," Allison chanted.

"Calle got it next," Kiyett added.

"The Matriarch caught them both," Allison continued.

"And made them both be wed!" they yelled in unison.

Liara's face went pale, and the slightly amused smirk she'd had a moment before faded. She'd had that sung at her more than once in the halls of school when she was little more than twenty-five until she'd left and gone to University. And for nothing more than simply asking a classmate if they knew what assignment was due that day. "Both of you, in the kitchen. Now. Sit at the table and do your homework. Move."

Neither moved, looking up at their mom in confusion. They glanced over at their father but Shepard looked just as confused as they felt.

"Lia-" Shepard started.

"And you can make sure they don't budge. I need to talk to her."

Shepard watched, flabbergasted, as Liara followed their eldest up the stairs. She could have sworn it sounded like Liara had been about to cry.

The bedroom the girls shared was dark. Liara saw Illira sitting on the floor between her bed and Allison's, though, and slipped inside. She didn't turn on the light, but sat down at the end of the bed and looked at her daughter.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked.

"No. I hate them."

"They're just being children. Who is she?"

"Goddess, not you too, mom. There isn't anyone. I mean, yeah, I ki- I mean...I don't know."

"You can tell me, little one. It's okay, really."

"Delphie dared Calle to kiss me after practice today. And...it didn't mean anything. I'm not...everyone's going to think we're a couple and we're not. It's stupid."

"If it's stupid, and you don't like her, then there is no reason to be upset with your sisters teasing you. You had rather a strong reaction for something that did not mean anything."

"I don't like asari," Illira muttered, "I don't."

Liara sighed and hung her head, rubbing the back of her neck. "Would it matter if you did? It was Calle Adrel'i, right? She's a sweet girl. Her mother works downtown doesn't she?"

"Yeah," Illira murmured, shrugging. "And it would matter. It's...it's just wrong."

"So, you don't love Poppi then?"

"What? No! Poppi's awesome. I wish she'd come around more."

"Am I wrong? Dirty?"

Illira lifted her head, then unknotted herself from the floor and moved to sit beside her mother. She laid her head on Liara's shoulder. "No, mom. Why would you even say that?"

"My father was an asari. My parents were in love, and they had me. You are the daughter of a pureblood."

Illira winced at the last word. "Don't call yourself that."

"Why not? If it's so wrong for you to like Calle, even though neither of you are yet fifty, am I not even worse? For being the product of something so dirty?"

"No! But I don't...it's not like that," Illira sighed.

"Then it's not like that. And there is no real malice, nothing to harm by your sister's teasing?"

"No. Yes. I don't know. I mean, what if I like her and we want to stay together? We can't, and...it's just...I don't know what to do."

"This," Liara said, pointing at her daughter's chest, "will tell you what to do. It found me your father. It's not always easy to hear what your heart is saying, but it rarely steers you wrong."

Illira nodded slowly. "Can I invite her to dinner tomorrow?"

Liara smiled, standing. "Of course, beanstalk."

"Ugh, please don't call me that when she's here!"

Liara laughed as she left the room and made her way down to the kitchen. Shepard was sitting on the counter eating raisins right out of the box; Allison and Kiyett were sitting at the breakfast table arguing about who had more homework. Liara glared at her bondmate, who quickly jumped off the counter with a sheepish look and slunk out of the room before she could earn any more of Liara's ire. Liara sat down between her daughters and tapped her fingers on the table. They silenced quickly and stared at her.

"I'm very disappointed in both of you," she said. The girls hung their heads, though neither was entirely sure what they had done. "When Illira comes downstairs I want you both to apologize."

"But I saw her! I saw her kissing Calle!"

"And that gives you reason to tease her, Kiyett?"

"I don't know. Yeah?" her youngest muttered, staring at her hands.

Liara sighed. She wasn't really angry at them, she had just thought she'd raised them to be smarter than that. "I don't want you teasing your sister about this anymore, okay? It's not easy gaining your Maidenhood on Thessia, girls. You'll find that out soon enough." She kissed them both on the top of their heads. "I love you both very much. Now finish your homework."

* * *

The door slid closed behind her and Liara leaned against it with a sigh. She kicked off her heels, shrugged out of the over-robes she'd worn for her meeting with the Board, and walked into the room proper. From the silence she had figured they were still out - Teiron had taken Erra to the art museum - but as she rounded the corner she saw them both. She smiled, seeing them curled up on one of the hotel beds. Erra was clutching a stuffed toy, her shoes still on, tucked under her mother's arm. Teiron was snoring softly, tucked into a protective ball around her daughter. It reminded Liara of the times that she had spotted Shepard in similar positions, often with all three of their girls sleeping around her.

She watched them sleep, leaning against the dresser. Without turning, she dug into her bag, pulling out the ancient camera she'd bought on her honeymoon with Shepard. She could take the picture with her omni much easier, but there was something about the weight of the camera, the act of developing the pictures, that made it so much more personal. As silently as possible she snapped the picture, but the click of the shutter echoed loudly in the room. Erra stirred, murmuring before rolling away from her mother.

She could watch them forever, but as much as this was a vacation for them, she had work to do. She kept an eye on them, wanting to capture that perfect moment of mother and daughter in her mind forever as she blindly picked up her datapads and moved to the small table by the window.

When Shepard had died she had written off ever being happy again. Whatever her promise to her bondmate, she had never thought that she'd ever find happiness again. Shepard had been her heart, had been her everything. She had tried, over the two centuries they'd been together, to forget about Teiron. There had been diapers to change, and recitals to attend, and Shepard by her side. And then the girls had grown up, and moved out, and it had just been her and Shepard, and Allison when she'd have a flare up. But Shepard had never let her forget. She had told the girls stories, teased her mercilessly, and it had, in its own way, been perfect, even if she was never allowed to forget her almost-indiscretion, as Shepard had called it in jest.

But all things pass. That is the first thing all asari children learn. The first lesson, before all others, was that life was fleeting. Love, live, but know that it will end. It was a harsh lesson, and one Liara had rebelled against since she was small. She'd often begged her mother to explain why, _why_, they had to mate outside asari. Why it was so wrong to love someone who could always be with you, who would grow old with you. Had she not, in conceiving Liara, loved a member of her own species? Had she not thrown all custom in the face of her peers by taking an asari lover and birthing a child? A child that would spend her days ridiculed for her parentage. Who would have to work twice as hard to achieve anything because her mother had loved an asari. Benezia had never answered, and by the time she was forty Liara had simply assumed that her parents had not loved each other. That she was little more than a mistake, something created in the heat of passion and unwanted. Meeting Aethyta, of course, had changed that. Over the years her father had often talked of her mother, and there was no question that they had loved each other dearly. That Liara had been born of love. Learning this had, on some level, reawakened her questions about why asari would doom themselves to repeated heartache.

Still, she had loved Shepard with every fiber of her being, and would not have traded the time they had for anything in the world. But she had been doomed to die. All things begin the slow walk toward death the moment they are born; most species just did so faster than the asari. She had taken heart in the lessons she'd had as a child, and had cherished her time with Shepard, but she had known that she could not put herself through it again. Maybe that was why so many asari did not settle down, why they shifted lovers by the decade; because it was easier to walk away while they were still alive than it was to watch them slowly fade. Perhaps they thought it was better to leave on their own terms than on those of fate and biology.

She had made a promise to Shepard, a promise to not lock herself away and fade into nothing. To not become the dark, brooding individual that Shepard had found when she'd arrived on Illium. When Shepard had finally passed she had done everything she could to keep that promise. Illira had pushed her into dating a mere decade after Shepard's death. Not one of them had ended well, and only one had ended up in a second date, though a few had ended with her waking up in a strange apartment, feeling sick to her stomach. Turians, salarians, more than a few humans. But as she'd looked at them, smiled at them, forced herself to laugh at their jokes, all she could think is that they, like Shepard, would eventually pass. She'd been hooked up with a krogan, once, by one of the professors she was working with about twenty years before. She had sat across from him and remembered her mother's wry smile every time she'd brought up the foolishness of trying to fall in love with someone who was, by asari standards, still very much a child. Her mother had suggested she marry a krogan. It took on a new light knowing what her grandfather was.

Yet, she had never found krogan particularly attractive. With the exception of Shepard, Shepard who had worked her way into her life and her heart well before she'd even known it was happening, Liara had always found herself attracted to her own people. The grace, the beauty. The way they simply _understood_ in a way no other species could.

She'd fought it. She'd fought it with every fiber of her being. In university, while her classmates were Joining in the halls, she kept her head down, her nose in a book. It was safer, safer than being tempted. Safer than the backlash for the dirty pureblood falling in love with another asari.

She'd held herself apart, never letting herself get close to her peers.

And then there had been Shepard.

And then Shepard had died.

And then there had been Teiron.

Her only friend when the world was crashing down. And it had been so subtle, the way she had insinuated herself into Liara's life. Not like Shepard who had stood in front of her and brought up things in her she'd never felt before, had never let herself feel before. No, Teiron had talked to her, laughed with her when she'd thought she'd never laugh again. And when she had leaned over that table, had tried to kiss her, all of Liara's doubts about what Teiron was had slipped away. It would never lead to anything serious, friend with benefits Shepard would have called it, so what was the harm.

She looked over at Teiron now and felt her heart swell.

That was the harm. That was what was wrong.

In her estates, it hadn't mattered. She loved her.

When she'd returned from the Hegemony, it hadn't mattered. She loved her.

It didn't matter now. It shouldn't matter now. She still loved her.

Yet being here, on Thessia, not just the two of them secluded away on the estate, but out, with Erra, walking the streets, it came back to her why there had never been anyone before Shepard. Was it right of her, fair of her, to drag Teiron into this? Would she be willing to face the consequences of what they were. Was it fair to Erra, to be raised by two asari?

She got up from the chair, having achieved nothing since she sat down, and dug through her bag again. She pulled out the box she'd bought the day before, when she was supposed to be at a meet-and-greet. With a nervous glance over her shoulder she opened it, revealing the delicately braided band within.

It was a proper bonding bracelet. Traditional, in the old way. It was braided in such a fashion that when unraveled it would consist of four multicolored ribbons, each about a yard in length. There was over twelve feet of ribbon wrapped together in that tiny, delicate bracelet. These would be used to bond the partners arms together. They were rarely given now, being a custom that had not filtered into popular culture. Few aliens knew its meaning, and few asari would give one to an alien partner. Shepard hadn't given her one, not that she had cared. Shepard, upon discovering the practice years later, after Kiyett had been born, had been more than a little distraught that she hadn't. Like many inter-species asari bondings, the ribbons for their bonding had been bought loose, and brought into the ceremony not already on a partners wrist, but carried by the officiant. She'd eventually given up on trying to give one to Liara – it was completely inappropriate to be given one after they were bonded. Bonded with three children, no less.

But this was different. Teiron was asari. It would mean something, something Liara didn't dare contemplate, to give this to her. And to, after the required years of waiting, trade them for a pair made of precious metals and infused, since they were both asari and there was no risk, with eezo. A pair like her parents', which Aethyta had given her, tucked in a box and wrapped in silk. They hung now in the master bedroom as was tradition.

She ran her fingers over the soft ribbon. She didn't know what she'd been thinking when she'd bought this. She couldn't do this. They could live together, be happy together, but to take this step, this final step, it wouldn't be right, wouldn't be fair.

She snapped the box shut, a single tear rolling down her face. It couldn't be.

She thought of her life, her previous life, the one without Shepard, trapped on an alien planet with her daughter. A daughter than had married an asari. A daughter that had married an asari and had no repercussions for it. A daughter she had eased, twice now, through the difficulty of adolescence and the knowledge, that, like her mother, she was somehow _wrong _for loving the way she did_._

A daughter that had been expecting her first child.

She clutched the box to her chest, and looked back over at Teiron and Erra.

Change had to start somewhere. By asari standards the shift to mating outside their species had been sudden, almost overnight. Within a hundred years of discovering that they could mate with, and bear children with, salarians, it had already started to be taboo to have a child with anyone else. Well before the end of the Rachni Wars children of two asari had already begun to be considered as less than their inter-species sisters.

She doubted it would be easy to break through, to allow asari bondings to be accepted again, pureblood children accepted again, but she could start it.

For Illira, and Nillye, who probably had never been born.

For the unborn grandchild she would never have.

For herself.

But not today. Not this trip.

She tucked the box back in her bag and looked over at the work she still needed to do for the last of her meetings. She looked over at Teiron and Erra, still sleeping.

She moved over to the bed and curled up against Teiron's back.

"Mmn?" Teiron murmured sleepily.

"Shh, go back to sleep. We'll go to the gardens this evening."

"'Kay. Go well?"

"Yes. They will be backing me when I go to the council with what I know. Now go back to sleep." She tucked her face into Teiron neck, felt her scoot back against her. Erra rolled over again, flipping onto her stomach, one arm stretched over her mother's head, landing on Liara's face, the other hanging off the edge of the bed.

Liara had not been so content in over forty years.


	14. A Halloween Short

**Meh, edited for awesomeness.**

**A very short Halloween chapter in the spirit of the holiday. There'll probably be another one tomorrow or the next day, I'm just working on the final touches on it. And I used Shepard's name, because I just don't see the kid NOT using it. But you can skim over it. It's utterly unimportant :)**

**The first bit is dedicated to Sirrocco, even though it'll probably be next October before she actually reads it :-p  
**

* * *

"Tick-or-Treat!" the three Shepard girls shouted in unison.

"Oh, look at how cute you girls are! Let's see, we have a fairy princess, a doctor, and what are you sweetheart?" the kindly old lady asked Allison. Liara and Shepard stood behind their daughters, beaming at them. Shepard had insisted on bringing the girls here, back to earth, where her mother had grown up, now that Kiyett was old enough to get into the spirit of the holiday. They'd taken Illira, before Allison was born, but since asari by and large found Halloween to be a rather silly holiday, Thessia wasn't, as Shepard put it, 'A great place for a good candy haul'. Suburban Ohio, however, left Liara worrying about the dentist bills.

"I'm my Daddy!" Allison said, proudly. Sporting a wig, cargo pants and Shepard's old N7 jacket (which Shepard had spent the last week painstakingly retailoring to properly fit her seventeen year old daughter), Liara had to admit that, sans skin color, she did look quite like her father.

"Yeah? And who was your Daddy? Was he a soldier for the Alliance?" the old woman asked, dropping extra chocolate into each of the girl's outstretched pillowcases.

"She's right there. She's Commander Shepard," Allison intoned, dropping her voice as deep as she could. Liara thought she even did a rather good imitation of Shepard as well.

"Your mommy is Commander Shepard, huh? I seem to remember her fighting off some geth in my younger years."

"No," Allison sighed, rolling her eyes. This wasn't the first time she'd had to explain, and she was finally beginning to understand why Poppi got so upset with humans. "My mommy is Doctor Liara T'Soni. My Daddy is Commander Illyna Shepard. Do I look human?" The last was mumbled under her breath. Old ladies were nice, but man they just didn't understand genetics at all.

The old woman raised an eyebrow at Liara and Shepard, smiling good-naturedly at them. It wasn't often that they got asari in these parts, and if they wanted to call women 'Dads' she figured that was their business.

The couple gathered their daughters back up as a group of zombies approached.

"Mommy, I'm sleepy," Kiyett yawned. The couple fought off the older girls' cries to stay out later and made their way back to the hotel.

Kiyett was asleep before they'd even made it back to the room, her pink glittery wings pinching Shepard's arm as she carried the girl up and tucked her into bed. Illira tossed the surgeon's mask she'd been wearing in the corner, found an open spot on the floor and dumped the entire contents of her pillowcase out onto it. Allison watched, awed, as she began to separate the candy into piles. She clutched her own bag close to her chest, not wanting to risk their stashes getting confused.

Liara joined Illira on the floor and motioned for Allison to join them. Shepard, having undressed their youngest and got her safely tucked away scooped her middle daughter into her arms and plopped down between her wife and eldest.

"How'd you do, Illy?" she asked.

"It's mainly chocolate. But check it," Illira said, sliding the dozen or so tiny bags of candy corn towards her father.

"Mmn, Halloween crack," Shepard said, grabbing one and ripping it open.

"Hey! That's mine!"

"We can share," Shepard grinned, "Anyway, who made your mom let us come in the first place?"

"What's crack, Daddy?" Allison asked. Personally she thought the candy her father was holding looked like little flat pyramids, and nothing like a long hole in the ground.

"How many times have I told you to watch what you say," Liara said, exasperated.

"You are just no fun, Liara. And crack means that once you start, you can't stop eating them." Shepard held out one of the tiny orange, yellow and white sugar pieces to her daughter, but Allison leaned away, pressing her head back into Shepard's chest to get away from it.

"I don't wanna eat those forever," she said.

Liara laughed and stole the candy from Shepard. "Smart girl, Allison."

"Like mother like daughter, I suppose."

Allison dug through her own bag, sticking her head all the way in. She tossed her own bags of candy corn at her father, who scooped them into a pile at her side. She dug deeper, finding a few kinds of candy she recognized and promptly pulled a few out. Shepard inspected them before letting Allison pick two before bed.

An hour, and decidedly more than just two pieces of candy later, Allison and Illira were tucked into the bed with their sister.

"Best night, ever," Allison yawned, still wearing Shepard's old jacket.

"You know it, baby," Shepard said, kissing all three of her girls on the forehead.

Liara came up behind her, leaning her head against Shepard's shoulderblade. "I'll admit, it was rather fun."

"So, I can book the standing tickets back to Earth every year?"

"We'll see. For now, I have plans for you in the other room." She pressed a kiss to Shepard's shoulder and pulled her away from their daughters.

* * *

"But it's Halloween. She'll love it."

"Halloween is the most ridiculous holiday humans ever dreamt up. And you want to take Erra and I out so she can what? Take candy from strangers? I've spent the last twenty years teaching her to do the exact opposite."

"I had the same reservations at first," Liara sighed. It had been centuries since her own daughters were young enough to go trick-or-treating, and she missed it, though she'd have never admitted that to Shepard. "She'll have fun, and you get free access to all the chocolate she brings home."

That seemed to get through, much like it had to Liara when Shepard had mentioned it all those years ago. "So, she just what? Walks up to various apartments dressed as some scary monster and people give her candy which I then steal? This is fun?"

"Yes, yes it is. Please, Teiron? She'll have so much fun. And I might just have brought Kiyett's Justicar costume from Thessia. She will look so cute in it."

Teiron sighed. They had reached the school, and she dropped Liara's hand and turned to face her fully. "You always knew I would give in, didn't you?"

"I just know you that well," Liara said with a huge smile.

A week later, Erra was standing in the living room, going through some of the biotic movements she'd been taught in school. She couldn't so much as shove a glass across a table, but she knew most of the proper movements already. She thought she looked fairly impressive, standing there looking just like Justicar Fela. Her mom and Liara had helped her fix it so that it looked just like the one in the show.

She hadn't been entirely sold on the idea at first. None of her asari friends were going, and though the human kids at lunch had been talking about it forever, she hadn't seen the draw. If she wanted candy, she just asked her mom, and assuming it wasn't close to dinner, she usually got it. Still, once she'd put on the costume the first time, she'd been sold. It was like when she was twelve and had been in the school play. She hadn't had any lines, since those roles had gone to the older kids, but she'd enjoyed dressing up for it. She was super excited to go to where some of her human friends were going out tonight and show off her costume.

Liara came out of the back of the apartment, holding a canvas bag, and dressed as something Erra just couldn't believe. Well, she couldn't believe that Liara had dressed up at all, but dressing up as Blasto's asari lover was not something Erra would ever have thought Liara would ever do. Seeing her mom come out after Liara though, caused Erra to fall to the floor laughing.

She was dressed in Liara's old armor. She'd worn it once for Erra when they had caught a replaying of Normandy Rising on the vids. Liara had laughed through the whole thing, especially when the actress playing her had gone into battle wearing a dress. Erra had asked what she did wear, and the next time she'd returned to the citadel, she'd brought the armored outfit with her. That was before she and her mom had gotten together, and when they'd both been insisting they were both friends, but the armor had stayed there all the same.

Erra thought her mom didn't look half bad in it, really. She was a bit taller than Liara, though, and so the jacket sat a little funny, but it wasn't as horrible as it could have been.

"Are we going now?" she asked.

Liara nodded, and hurried them all out. They went to the human part of the ward, where already families with small children were walking the streets and ringing bells.

They were met by some of Erra's friends, and they continued on as a group.

"So, you always let your children go and take candy from strangers every year?" Teiron asked George's father, who was holding his youngest daughter's hand.

"Yeah," he laughed, "I suppose we do. We always check it first, though. It's all in good fun."

Teiron grunted, and Liara laughed.

She really did love Halloween.


	15. Chapter 14

"I don't see why I have to be here," Liara said to the creature that looked disturbingly like her.

"I have no corporeal form. I have explained this more than once."

"Then can you stop looking like me, it's distracting." Her fingers flew over the terminal. In the last twenty years, give or take, she'd had to take care of this more than once. She could handle it with her eyes closed. "And why can't Shepard do this? My daughter is ill. Coming here is difficult, I should be with her."

"Commander Shepard is currently watching both your daughters. She is more than capable. I have seen what she can do, and she should be able to handle two small children for an afternoon. You were on the Citadel already, after all."

Liara glared at the creature, which had, thankfully, changed to look less like her more like Athame. That was still highly disturbing, especially considering that Athame was nothing more than a nosy Prothean, but at least it wasn't like looking in a mirror anymore. These power outages were unnecessary. This being really needed to stop exploring and just stay where Shepard had put her all those years before. She could, though, she supposed, understand the desire to explore. Liara's own maiden years were really just beginning, but she spent most of her time at home with her children. It could be draining, and she couldn't fault this creature for wanting to move around. Especially after having been attached to her brain for so long, or however that whole thing had worked.

"I should be with them, not figuring out how you fried this circuitry. I study dead cultures, not bad wiring."

"The third node on the left needs to be rerouted, and then everything should go back to normal," the being said. They really needed to come up with a name for it.

Liara did what it suggested and the power board lit up. Tayseri Ward was back in business. She double checked what she'd done and nodded to herself. It was as good as it was going to get.

"Try not to do that again," Liara sighed, gathering her things and preparing to leave.

"You have a visitor."

Liara turned and saw Shepard coming through the doors. She nodded politely at the creature before coming over to Liara.

"Where are the girls? Is Allison alright? Why aren't they with you? Did something happen?" Liara felt her hands shake. She knew if was foolish, if something had happened, Shepard would not have been strolling casually into the central Citadel hub.

"Your father took them out for lunch. I thought I could interest you in some highly boring, but incredibly adult activity. Like touring a museum. Or going to the opera," Shepard smirked. She cast a considering eye at their translucent companion, shrugged and kissed Liara.

"_You_ want to go to the opera?" Liara laughed.

"I saw 'Heatherfall on the Moonlight', that new turian opera. It was quite good," the creature put in.

Shepard glared at it. It had been a terrifying, horrible thing when she'd watched it extract itself from her lover. Now it looked like a lonely child, for all that it still retained the shape of the asari Goddess.

"Well, you know, it's that or I take you back to our place, find out how dusty the sheets have gotten."

"You are horrible, Shepard. I hear they are showing a history of the Relay 314 incident on the Presidium. It might be interesting to watch."

Shepard pouted, sighed, and then slid her arm around Liara's waist. "You really want to drag me to see a recreation of the first contact war? You are aware that would be like inviting my mother to the Vakarian's for Christmas right?"

Liara smacked her arm. "That's why you have all those vids and books on it? And why Illira told me that you were going to be helping her on her diorama about it? Because it is so traumatic."

"Hey, now, that's not fair. That's research."

"I hear your mother signed off on it."

"All the more reason for me to not go see it."

"I believe I am capable of making any further repairs," the creature said, taking a step away from them as Liara whispered exactly what she would do in the theater if Shepard went with her. "Ok, seriously. I mean, I know I was around when you two...but, it's kinda weird now that I'm standing over here." They cast the thing a dark look, kissed again, just to rub it in, then turned to leave.

"I don't want to have to return again for a long time," Liara warned, as she followed out the door.

"I will endeavor to..." Whatever else it said was lost as the door closed behind them.

"She reminds me of EDI," Shepard said, once they were free of the gaggle of engineers that had been clustered around the door.

"I still doubt that...that...was ever a part of me."

"It was. I saw it. Saved the galaxy. Impressive. Now its just annoying."

"Says the woman who doesn't actually have to deal with it. It doesn't like you, you know."

"That's not what it told me."

Liara sniffed, rolling her eyes. "I just don't see why I have to keep going back there. It does not make any sense."

"Yeah, it's just lonely. Breaks things so it has someone to talk to. I mean, really it's like your sister. We should be nicer to it. What would happen if Illira suddenly decided to not help Allison when they got older?"

Liara grunted, and took Shepard to pick up their daughters. She suddenly missed them very much.

* * *

It worked itself into her dream. She was standing on a bridge overlooking one of the Presidium lakes, and then there was a pounding to her left. She turned, but there was nothing there. The sound echoed weakly, and silenced. She turned back to the water, and the pounding started again. The dream shifted, refocused, shifted again, and then she was started awake by something landing, heavily, on top of her.

"Mom," Erra whispered, crawling over the top of the blankets before rolling onto her back between her mother and Liara, "there's something at the door."

Teiron blinked blearily as the pounding from her dream returned. "It's probably a someone, Erra, and not a some_thing_. What time is it?" The knocking had become more urgent, and was now accompanied by the ringing of the door chime.

"I dunno. Early." She scooted up so her back was pressed against the headboard and hugged her knees. Teiron shook her head, chuckling. Erra was a bit old to be afraid enough of a knocking at the door that she felt the need to crawl into bed with her, but Teiron found it endearing, if a little annoying.

Liara sat up, clutching the blanket to her chest as Teiron got up out of bed and searched for her robe. She smiled sleepily at Erra who grinned back at her.

"Hopefully the ward isn't flooding again. Last time that happened the apartment smelled of sewage for a month."

"I got outta school though. Mom, why are you naked? It's silly to sleep naked."

Teiron watched Liara turn a rather beautiful shade of plum and laughed. Considering how atypical they were in making love, she'd have never have pegged Liara to be so shy about it. "Mind your own business," she laughed, "you'll figure it out soon enough." Under different circumstances she'd have told Erra the truth, but it probably would have given Liara a heart attack. Two worst asari ever; they were made for each other.

"It's not like you gotta get naked to make a baby, well, George, he's a human that has lunch with us, he says that human's have to get naked to make a baby, but Milyn said you two wouldn't get naked together anyway 'cause two asari don't have to, she said you probably didn't even meld, cause two asari can't have a baby together. But I said that's not true, cause everyone knows that Liara's dad was an asari, and I mean, at some point we didn't know about all the aliens, right? But _she_ said that it can't happen, 'cause if two asari have a baby then it's sick, but you aren't sick Liara, and I told her that, so, do you have to get naked to make a baby even if you're asari?" Erra finally paused to take a breath, completely oblivious to the fact that Liara looked a bit like she was about to be sick and her mother was trying very hard not to laugh. She took a deep breath, met her mother's eyes and asked, "Am I gonna have a sister?"

That made Liara choke and broke the tension in Teiron, who broke out in a barking laugh. "No, Erra, you aren't going to have a sister." She caught a brief, almost despondent look in Liara's eyes, and added, despite knowing that it would bring another blush to her lover's cheeks, "We were just practicing."

Before Liara could yell at her for saying such a thing she slipped out of the bedroom to answer the pounding at the door.

As she walked down the hall she listened to Erra's excited chatter and Liara's attempts to try to explain, without explaining, what Teiron had meant. She was still chuckling about it when she opened the door.

There was a hanar in the doorway, with a turian C-Sec officer beside him. "Teiron Riela?" the officer asked.

"Yes? Can I help you?" It wasn't often that C-Sec showed up at her door. The last time that had happened Erra hadn't even been a thought in her head and she'd only been living on the Citadel for a week. And had apparently forgotten to pay her bar tab. Easily settled and it never went on her record.

"This one is searching for a Dr. Liara T'Soni and was informed she could be found at this residence," the hanar said, pulsing softly in the dim light out in the hall.

"I'm officer Larmin Vakarian, ma'am. There's been some electrical issues over on Zakera. We heard she was on the station, but couldn't reach her on her omni. Her daughter mentioned she might be here," the turian said, glancing over Teiron's shoulder.

Teiron remembered tossing Liara's omni-tool under the bed at some point earlier in the evening when they were otherwise engaged and she'd had no intention of letting the other woman become distracted. She wasn't exactly sure how to answer either of them, though. Their relationship wasn't exactly a secret; Erra made sure of that. On the other hand, thus far it hadn't made the papers. Liara, as Shepard's widow, was still a news story especially in the human-centric media circles, and it wasn't hard to believe that the story of her taking not just a new lover, but an asari as well, would make headlines if it got out. And that story wouldn't be confined to just the human media outlets. The asari would be all over it. Letting these two know could quickly make the story spread like wildfire if either was a gossip.

The question was answered for her though at Liara's delighted squeal behind her. "Lars! Goddess, I haven't seen you in ages! What are you doing here?" Liara, having thrown on the shirt Teiron had been wearing the day before and a pair of jogging shorts, rushed up beside Teiron, kissed her quickly on the cheek and then pulled the turian into a giant hug. Teiron was almost jealous.

"It's good to see you too, Auntie L," Larmin answered. "And why didn't your last letter tell me about the stunning young lady that has caught your eye? When Kay said you'd probably be here and not at your place I thought she was playing me a fool."

"Well, your cousin does have that kind of sense of humor," Liara agreed. "But it's been," she glanced over at Teiron, smiling what Teiron still thought of as the 'Shepard smile' at her, "busy around here. And you know how it is, you like to keep a good thing to yourself."

The officer chuckled, "Alright, alright. You win. Dahlia says I had to invite you to dinner next time I saw you, so consider yourself invited. The kids have missed you. And," he added, seeing Erra creeping out of the back of the apartment, "bring the new family." Teiron couldn't help the smug pride that coursed through her at hearing that she and her daughter were Liara's family by someone who had obviously known her awhile. "Great-granddad would be mad if I didn't."

"I'm sure Garrus would have understood if you didn't," Liara said with a smile, "but that's probably not why you are here."

"Dr. T'Soni, this one requires your assistance," the hanar said.

"Of course, Softly Carried on Raging Water. Are the systems acting up again?"

"Yes. This one hopes you will hurry. We have been unable to find the problem. Again." Teiron was fairly certain that hanar weren't capable of physically sighing, but it was fairly clear that was what the hanar did as he stopped speaking.

"Yes, I will be there immediately. Just let me, um," Liara glanced down at her clothes and shrugged, "change real quick."

"This one wishes to congratulate you on finding a suitable partner," Softly Carried said.

Liara blushed, Erra giggled, and Teiron hid her own embarrassment by inviting him inside.

Liara hurried back to the bedroom to put some real clothes on, and Teiron sent Erra back to bed. It couldn't be more than three in the morning, and she had school in the morning. Later in the morning. Teiron had to work in the morning, too, but she didn't have the luxury of crawling back under the covers. She smiled at her unexpected guests, putting on her best, welcoming smile. "I take it you both know Liara then?"

"She was my grandfather's aunt. Sort of. My grandfather was adopted, so there's no blood relation. Not that there would be, I mean, being as she's asari, but you know that." He smiled at her, mandibles flaring. He reminded her of Erra's father, and for one fleeting, terrifying moment she thought maybe he was and just didn't remember her, but his clan markers were wrong. And, she thought, he was perhaps a little young.

"Oh, you must have some great stories then," she grinned.

"Nothing worth telling. A few family holidays when I was still very small, but mostly I just work with her when she deals with the engineering problems up in the hub. I don't know how she does it, to be honest."

"She is gifted in her own right, Officer," Softly Carried said, "Her daughter shows much promise. This one believes that in time we will no longer need to seek out Dr. T'Soni's assistance."

"And that will be a very sad day in my opinion," Larmin said. "But what about you? How'd you lure the galaxy's only asari prude into bed?"

Teiron grinned, "I'm afraid it was the other way around. And I'm not sure she would appreciate it if I gave away her secrets." Even the hanar appeared shocked at her confession. She kept the amused smile on her face, even as she fought down the urge to tell them everything Liara had revealed to her that first night. Still, there was a time and place for most things, but not for telling Liara's great-something-nephew about their sex life. Maybe after they had a couple of family Janiris dinners. "But, what is it she does for you?"

"This one does not believe that it is its place to reveal that information to you if Dr. T'Soni has not already told you."

"Don't mind him," Larmin snickered, "She has some way of finding out what's going on with this hunk of metal when the engineers don't. She's training her daughter, Kiyett," Teiron nodded when he looked at her to confirm she knew who she was, "to take over for her. Or was. Now that she's living here, maybe she'll just hang around." He smirked at her, and she returned it in kind despite the rolling in her stomach. Why hadn't Liara told her about this?

"Well, she still spends much of her time lounging around on Thessia. More time than I wish she would anyway, so you are, I'm afraid, out of luck."

"That's too bad. It's been a couple of years since we've needed her, but it sometimes goes like that."

Liara returned, ending the conversation. Teiron smiled at her, and earned a rather passionate kiss considering they had company, for her efforts.

"What are you helping them with?" she asked, her lips still pressed against Liara's

"Same thing I was the day I met up with you again. I have access to certain protected systems."

"I want to come," Teiron said, "Can you wait while I get a sitter?" Liara looked into her eyes for what seemed liked forever, her face thoughtful, and then nodded.

She was led up to the Presidium, up to the Council Tower, and through the tiny door. A group of people were milling around there, and there was a collective sigh when Liara entered.

They shouted instruction, problems, issues. Liara waved them off with the easy wave of someone who knows exactly what she is doing.

"Um, is she going in with you? I think I would be better qualified," a young turian said.

"She's with me. We'll only be a minute."

Liara took Teiron's hand and they passed through another door.

They walked into a large room. At one end was a walkway, split in three, each section dead ending in a large, ugly-looking contraction lit by various colored lights. Teiron stared, awed. She could see ships passing through the windows, stars blinking in the distance. She saw Kiyett, green lights blinking off the piercings in her crest as she talked to someone. Something? The thing that was standing before her was translucent, glowing slightly blue. And she looked just like Liara.

"Um," she started. And though her voice was barely above a whisper two heads turned quickly towards her.

"Mom!" Kiyett yelled, sprinting down the bridge toward them. "Teiron? Are you sure this is wise, Mom?"

The translucent thing came up to them. It no longer looked like Liara, but rather like the painting Teiron had seen at the T'Soni estate of Athame. "Miss Riela. It is a pleasure to properly meet you," it said.

Teiron pinched herself. She'd never seen this thing before. _Was_ it the Goddess? What was it? She was dreaming. She'd never actually woken up. "Um...hi? Uh, ma'am, Goddess, uh, who are you?"

"I am Liara. Or I was. Kiyett calls me 'Thomas' but I believe that is a joke. You may call me that, if you wish. Or anything else. I wish to apologize."

Liara smirked and led Kiyett away with a hand on her shoulder. She might as well fix the problems while Teiron was being introduced to the final member of the T'Soni family.

"For, I mean, for what?" Teiron gibbered.

"When you first met Liara I actively worked to prevent the two of you from being intimate. I had my reasons, but I have since learned I should have gone about it in a less painful manner. Liara cared for you, even then. I could not allow that." Teiron simply stared blankly at the creature. "However, now that the danger has passed, I believe you make a very good partner for Liara. She talks about you," it said.

"She does? Who...what...are you?"

"I am now the Citadel. I took over for the thing that was here before. It gets rather boring. Kiyett visits regularly now that she is grown, but I do occasionally cause some problems, just so I can have company. My existence isn't well-known." They walked toward Liara and Kiyett, who had finished with the repairs.

"Oh. Um, cool I guess?"

"Liara had just left me when she met with you on the Presidium. She was lonely, I knew that your young daughter had been asking to see that part of the station. You're welcome. Please don't tell Liara. She does not much like me."

Teiron was left speechless.

When Liara was finished, and they had returned to the apartment, Teiron sat on the sofa, her head in her hands. She didn't know what to think. What to say.

Liara sat beside her and told her a story.

She wouldn't have believed a word of it if she hadn't seen what she had earlier in the day.

She still didn't believe parts of it.

Time travel.

As if.


	16. Chapter 15

"Don't look now, Shepard," Liara whispered, shifting the sling where a four month old Illira slept peacefully, "reporters."

Shepard stiffened, and Liara tried not to laugh. The media wasn't hounding them as badly as Liara would have expected, especially after the fan fare that their wedding at bred, but her recent pregnancy and Illira's birth had caused a bunch of pro-human news networks to start crawling out of the woodwork. Shepard had so far refrained from punching any of them for the less than pleasant comments they sent Liara's way, but she knew it was only a matter of time before her bondmate broke down and broke some noses. Shepard took Liara's hand, looked down at the sleeping face of her daughter, got a rather nice view of Liara's cleavage in the low-cut nursing wrap the asari was wearing, and then glanced past them to the reporters. Her shoulder's relaxed immediately, and Liara glanced at her, confused.

"Emily!" Shepard shouted, raising a hand. Emily Wong turned toward the couple and smiled, laying a hand on the young woman she was conversing with.

"Commander Shepard? I take it I can't get you to go crawling around in gentleman's clubs looking for a story for me anymore?" she asked, nodding at Liara and the baby.

"No, Liara frowns on that. She even wants me home for dinner most nights. I heard her even yelled at Admiral Hackett the last time my shore leave ended."

Liara glared daggers at Shepard, who smiled back at her. She muttered something that sounded like, "I did nothing of the sort," but neither of the humans were listening.

"I have seen you since the wedding. Enjoyed your honeymoon I see. Can I?" Emily leaned forward slightly, trying to catch a peak at Illira.

Liara extracted the tiny infant from the folded fabric. She didn't wake, but nuzzled against Liara's breast in her sleep. "Her name's Illira," Liara said, her voice nostalgic. It had taken them almost a full month to decide on a name for their new daughter. Liara hadn't wanted to name her after the woman she thought of as this girl's elder sister, but she had been unable to deny that she was as close to her other child as it was possible to be. They were born on the same day, right down to the minute, Earth time. The collection of markings along her temples and brow were identical to those the elder Illira had had. Most damning, perhaps, had been the soft feel of the child's mind while Liara had been in labor. The first touch of a daughter's mind is something that a mother never forgets, and this child, this tiny little baby, had the same beautiful mind as the daughter she'd left on earth.

Emily smiled knowingly, then cooed down at the baby. "She's beautiful."

"Takes after her mother," Shepard said, reaching out and running a finger along the girl's jaw.

"You can't see it now, but she has her father's eyes. Not that anyone ever admits it."

Emily laughed, "Oh, lord, you are such new parents! She's amazing. Think I could snag you too for an interview? Allers didn't think I actually knew you. She works for Battlespace." Wong whispered the last, rolling her eyes as she did.

"Diana?" Liara asked, looking over Emily's shoulder.

"You know her?"

"Um...of her," she said, glancing at Shepard, who shook her head and shrugged. She didn't have the faintest idea who the reporter was.

"Not exactly the first name in good reporting. I heard she tried to get a press pass to your wedding, and got laughed at. Oh, and thank you, by the way, for the card. I honestly didn't know what to get you. I wasn't expecting to be invited, as a guest," she chuckled.

"The blender? A life saver. This one refused to eat properly," Shepard said, pointing a thumb at Liara, "while she was pregnant. I'm away so much, and she apparently can't cook for herself. She lived on protein shakes for about eighteen months. And I think we can squeeze in an interview. But not today."

"Shepard," Liara warned, blushing.

"It's okay, Dr. T'Soni. I'm glad you got use out of it. I was always told to not buy kitchen appliances for wedding presents, that you'd get a ton of them, but," she shrugged, "I was expecting to be in the press box."

Illira began fussing and Shepard quickly took the baby from Liara's arms. In a matter of seconds Illira had stopped, curling a first into Shepard's shirt and gurgling happily out at the only reporter Shepard didn't feel like killing. "Mom smells like dinner, it works her right up. Do you want to hold her?"

Both Liara and Emily looked at Shepard like that was the most absurd idea she'd ever come up with. Ever. She ignored them, and held the tiny baby out to Emily, who took a step backwards. Illira held out her tiny hands, grasping at the air as her father pushed her toward the stranger. Illira was still of an age where strangers were just other people to hold her. There was only mom, the thing that wasn't mom, and everyone else.

"Thanks, but, um, no. I should really get back. They just put in the new salarian councilor. I've heard she's tight-laced, even for a salarian." She grinned at Illira, though. She was cute. For a baby.

"That's an understatement," Shepard said, shifting Illira to her shoulder and holding out a hand. Emily shook it with a smile.

"Look, I'm going to hold you to that interview. The great Commander Shepard, savior of the Citadel, brought down by a ten pound blue bundle." She left before Shepard could say a word, grinning over her shoulder.

Liara and Shepard continued on their way, Shepard handing Illira back to her mother so she could feed her. She wished all reporters could be as easy going as Emily Wong.

* * *

Teiron slowed as she passed the jewelry store front. She didn't normally look in there on her way to work. It catered almost exclusively to human women, with its displays of precious stones in gold and silver settings meant to be pushed through holes in the external lobes that were part of their auditory system. There were necklaces as well, delicate things that sparkled in the artificial light and rings of varying colors. The usual display was for lovers and spouses. Placards encouraging young men to buy a ring for a future wife, or a 15,000 credit necklace for their wife. As she glanced at the window today, something caught her eye though, and made her stop.

The placards were no longer a bright red that humans associated with love, but rather pinks and whites. There were more necklaces, fewer rings, and the prices of the things on display were about half of what they'd been the week before. She looked up and read the flashing sign at the top of the window.

_This Mother's Day, make sure to thank her for all she's done._

Another human holiday then. She remembered this one, she thought. It wasn't as big as that Christmas thing that lasted from sometime in September until after Janiris, but she seemed to remember Erra bringing home some artwork when she'd been about eleven for the holiday. She'd had a human teacher that year.

For the most part the jewelry was gaudy, and not a little ostentatious, but tucked in the back corner was a silver and blue bracelet. She couldn't imagine giving a bracelet to her mother, the thought, even if her mother had been alive, was mildly nauseating, but this one was simply enough to give to Liara, and its human design might prevent any misunderstandings. Not that she hadn't thought about proposing. The idea that they could be bound together officially, it was foolish thought really.

It wasn't as if they needed approval in the form of an official document to know that they loved each other. If she needed proof of Liara's love she need only catch her eye, and it would be written there plainly. She had refused to let herself daydream about what their bonding would be like, what their life would be like. Wouldn't let herself consider them living here, on the Citadel, together, with Liara not leaving again. Or living on Thessia, her finding a job in Armali, Erra being able to play outside in the grass.

It would never happen. It could never happen.

Still, if she understood the advertisements in the window, one didn't have to be the mother's child to give them a mother's day gift. Liara was a mother, and she'd readily accepted the role of Erra's father. Teiron briefly wondered if there was a human holiday for second parents as well, and if it wouldn't be more prudent to wait for that one, but dismissed it. They weren't human, and she was simply using the holiday as an excuse anyway.

She checked the time on her omni. She was going to be late if she went in and bought it now. What was it she always told Erra when she wanted a new toy? If you leave and come back, and it's still there, then you were meant to have it.

With one last look at the bracelet she ran the rest of the way to work.

She was asked to stay late, and she almost told Horus no. But Erra was going to friend's for the evening anyway, Liara was back on Thessia, and she wasn't supposed to meet _her_ friends that she was going with that night until much later in the evening. The bracelet, though, kept her from focusing on what she was doing. She didn't fear that it would be bought, that store hardly dealt in one-of-kinds, but she did worry that the store would be closed when she finally extracted herself from the warehouse. The hours, which normally went by fairly quickly, dragged on. Minutes felt like hours, hours like days. She was checking the time every couple of minutes, only to be disappointed at how little time had passed. Lorse laughed at her, calling her jumpy and asking why she wasn't sharing whatever it was she was on.

Like she would share Liara now that she had her to herself. Not in a million years.

By the time she finally left, she was beginning to have doubts about how smart it was to get the gift for her lover though. It wasn't a bonding bracelet, it wasn't, really, anything special, beyond being infused with some stone the same color as Liara's eyes. The fact remained, however, that Liara might think she was trying for something more, that she was, in some strange way, proposing. Which wouldn't be a bad thing, not if Liara said yes. But the much more likely outcome was Liara saying no, Liara not wanting to make what they had official. Teiron wouldn't blame her, they would meet with heavy resistance, especially since they were both at the height of their childbearing years. Her heart constricted painfully at the thought that Liara didn't want to marry her though, that she'd think Teiron wanted to take things too fast.

It had been three years, if you included the year where they danced around each other like fools, and the year in the Hegemony. Erra was turning twenty-five shortly, a major birthday, and three years ago Teiron would never have believed that Liara, _Liara,_ the quiet, silly, information broker she'd met in bar on Illium and fell stupidly in love with, would be there for it. She slowed in front of jewelry display. She could thank her for that, if nothing else.

She squared her shoulders and walked into the store. There was no reason why anyone would need to know this was far an asari. Nope, buying a bracelet for her human lover. She pushed down a shudder, she really didn't know what the draw was with human women. They looked a bit like asari, but they were all hairy, talked too much after sex, and had a tendency to call excessively even after you made it clear you weren't interested. She forced the thought of Liara, only furrier and a funky color, into her head and stepped up to the counter.

The was a tall, skinny man with a thin almost non-existent mustache in heavily pressed and starched suit. His nose was curled up like he smelled something bad, and the corner of his mouth turned up when he saw her. She smiled at him, widely.

"Hi. I need to see the bracelet you have in the window."

He looked her up and down, sizing her up. She'd bought new clothes, right around the time Liara had come back from the Hegemony so she wasn't the tattered mess she would have been a year ago. She'd somehow gotten that raise she'd been promised five years before and never received, which had made things a lot easier at home. She had a sneaking suspicion that Liara was somehow behind it, but she hadn't been able to tweak that information out of her.

"The bracelet, ma'am?"

"That is what I said. The blue one."

"Just a moment," he sneered. He glided – she'd never seen anyone but an asari glide before – across the room and took the display from the window. There wasn't anyone else in the store, and the way he looked down on her when he returned didn't leave much doubt as to why. He had the people skills of dead krogan. He brought the entire display, fake hand and all, and put it on the table.

Unlike an asari bondmate bracelet, the metals didn't appear woven, rather this was a solid silver ring, with long, thin, insets of a pale blue stone. The annoying man slid the bracelet off the dismembered plastic arm and held it out to her. She reached for it, and for a second she thought he wouldn't let her take it.

"It's heavy," she muttered.

"It's solid. It contrasts well with madam's skin."

"It's not for me," she said automatically. That would have been a much better lie than the dating a human thing though. Uhg, but she really didn't dig humans.

"Ah. I see. Does madam's lady friend enjoy jewelry? We have some lovely earrings, of a similar color-"

"That won't be necessary." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she regretted it. Way to push the fast she was with something without human ears.

"Yes. Does the lady find it to her liking, then? This particular design runs around-"

Teiron decided rather quickly that she actually liked cutting him off. His voice was annoying, condescending. The look of disbelief when she did it that crossed his features probably helped too. "I'll take it." She didn't want to know how much it was. Chances were she couldn't properly afford it. He had gotten under her skin, though, and the bracelet was perfect.

He grunted, took the bracelet from her, and ran the sale. She winced at the price, though really it was about half what she had expected. It was still more than she could reasonably afford, but Erra would just have a to get a scholarship for the university if she decided to go. The man wrapped the bracelet up, boxed it then put it in a tiny black bag that probably cost as much as Teiron's entire outfit. She took it from him, almost reverently, but kept the stupid grin off her face until she was out of sight.

Unfortunately, she didn't spot the two young women that were standing around the corner.

"Excuse me," the younger of the pair said. They were both human, the younger one a scrawny blond with too big eyes, and elder more sophisticated, her hair pulled back into a tight bun. "Are you Teiron Riela?"

"Last I checked. Do I know you?"

The older human stepped up, and Teiron felt a sinking in her stomach as she finally noticed the camera that had been hiding behind her. "Georgiana Jameson, Westerlund News. This is my assistant Joanne. I was wondering if we could ask you a few questions."

"Yeah, no. Don't have to time." She rolled her eyes at the reporters and turned to leave. She should have known better than to think she could get a clean break from Westerlund though.

"Miss Riela," Georgiana called, stalking after her, camera in tow, "is there any truth to the rumors that you are in a relationship with Dr. Liara T'Soni, widow to Commander Shepard, Savior of the Citadel?"

"I really don't have time," Teiron called back, not bothering to turn around. If she could out run them, she could get a call into Liara. She should be able to stop anything these people might air. But, Teiron wasn't used to having cameras following her. Wasn't used to reporters caring. Wasn't aware of the best ways to lose a tail.

"That's not a no, Miss Riela. There were reports that two years ago you spent a weekend at her estate. Further reports have her staying at your apartment when she is here on the Citadel. Is it true you have a young daughter? Do you feel that you a giving your daughter a proper upbringing, having Dr. T'Soni live with you?"

"Erra's an asari. We don't hide sex from our children."

"So you are having an affair with Dr. T'Soni?"

"I- I really don't have time for this." She didn't like the grin that was spreading across the woman's face. Or the way her assistant, the young blond, was fiddling with her omni-tool.

She liked the whole thing even less, when twenty minutes later she was sitting in her living room, watching, not only her run from the reporters, but their subsequent interview with the annoying jeweler.

"It looks like," the reporter, who was not either of the women Teiron had been waylaid by, said, "we finally have confirmation that the rumors we've been getting these last few months are true. Dr. Liara T'Soni, widow to the Savior, is having an affair with the asari matron, Teiron Riela." The showed a still from the video, Teiron glancing over her shoulder. It couldn't have been a worse shot of her.

Her omni beeped. She didn't even have to answer it to know it was Liara.

She closed her eyes, trying very hard not to cry. Liara had trusted her. Accepted her. Loved her. And she returned the favor by letting the world know of their secret.

She answered the call.


	17. Chapter 16

The house was quiet. Too quiet. If there was one thing having children had taught Shepard it was that coming home to a quiet house, when Liara's skycar was in the drive, was a bad thing. There were usually only two reasons for that. The first; she was home late and the children were asleep and she was going to be chewed out for not calling. The second; the children had broken something important, they were grounded, and she would be begged by three of the only people in the galaxy she couldn't refuse to please please please let them go. The fourth, and only other person she couldn't refuse would then stare her down with a look that dared her to try. It was never a good situation.

She threw her coat onto the rack, dropped her bag beside the table and moved as quietly as she could through the house. She didn't think she'd promised to be home early today, but then, the human councilor had been on the phone for half the morning making outrageous demands, and she was fairly certain the ambassador had been hitting on her for most of the afternoon. Pile that on top of the mindless, pointless, paper pushing that was her day-to-day work, and it really wasn't a surprise that she forgot things. As quietly as possible she eased herself into the kitchen.

It was empty.

She double checked, just to make sure, grabbed a handful of nuts from the bowl in the middle of the table and tried the dining room.

Also empty.

The amused, quirky fear that she was about to get yelled at was quickly being replaced by the real, cold sweat fear that something had happened to her family. She checked the downstairs bedroom, usually a guest bedroom, which they had used while Liara was pregnant. Empty. She checked her office. Empty. She checked Liara's office. Empty.

With rising panic she made her way up the stairs. Liara's car was in front of the house. No one had called her since eleven that morning. There had been no signs of forced entry. No signs of struggle. She kept telling herself there was no reason to panic.

The master bedroom was also empty, but the bed was made and a couple of piles of clean laundry were stacked at its end. That was a promising sign, Liara never did laundry until after Kiyett went down for her nap, which was coming later and later every day. She backed into the hall, and she heard it.

A scream.

Training she'd long thought forgotten kicked in, and though she was unarmed she dropped into a crouch and made her way to where she'd heard the noise. It was coming from one of the converted bedrooms. This wing had four, not including the two downstairs that were being used as their respective offices. One was being used as storage, one had been turned into an entertainment room, and one into a play room. The last one was vacant, filled only with a few discarded boxes she was supposed to have taken out years ago, and it was from here the sound had come. The room was right across the hall from the girls' room, and Shepard glanced in there before moving to look in to the bare room across the hall. The bedroom was a mess, filled with toys that should have been in the play room next door, but it was a recognizable mess. It hadn't been tossed, simply played in.

She moved silently across the hall and stopped just outside entryway. The master bedroom upstairs and their offices downstairs were the only rooms with doors on them except for the dining room. Shepard had installed them herself.

"So, tell me, Dr. T'Soni, what are you making for dinner?" someone said in a false baritone. This was followed by girlish giggles, and then a piercing shriek. This close, that noise was also familiar. Someone had tickled Allison.

"I was thinking stuffed mushrooms with peppers and-"

Liara was cut off by two voices screaming 'Ew, No!" at the same time. Shepard grinned and quietly slipped into the room. A curve in the wall kept her from being seen even as she spied on her family.

Illira was standing on an empty crate, Shepard's hairbrush in her hand, facing her mother and sisters. Kiyett was tucked between Liara's legs, and Allison was sitting at her side. As she watched, Liara sneaked a hand out and tickled Allison again, earning another shrill scream. Illira laughed, and Allison pouted.

"So, Allison Shepard," Illira said, again in the false voice, "I've heard you plan on building a fort of sheets with Dad this weekend. The people of Thessia would like to know the password!"

Allison laughed, "You can't call her 'Dad'. She's not your dad if you're a reporter."

"Just answer the question, you're making this hard!" Illira said in her normal voice.

"I'm not giving you the password! You'd just come in and tear the fort down!"

"Would not!" Illira said, then dropped her voice again, "I mean, so you are refusing the answer the question Miss Shepard?"

"Duh!"

Liara leaned over, and in a stage-whisper said, "I give you permission to lie. Lying to the paparazzi isn't really lying."

"Mom!" Illira said, shocked.

"It's true," Liara defended herself to her daughter, "No comments will only take you so far."

"Can I pretend you are papa-pizza when I get in trouble?" Allison asked.

"Paparazzi. And no, you cannot."

"No fair," Allison whined.

"I agree," Shepard said, rounding the corner. They all looked up at her, and she really couldn't say which smile she liked more. In the end, Kiyett's toothless one won out. "You can't tell them they can lie, and then turn around and say they can't. I'm fairly certain there are some pretty strict galactic laws against that." She sat down on Allison's other side, and her daughter climbed into her lap.

"Exactly. I should be able to pretend Mommy's a papa-thing."

Shepard laughed, kissing the top of her head. "No. But your mother shouldn't give you permission to lie either. Even in jest." She leaned over and kissed Liara softly on the mouth.

Illira covered her eyes with her hands, but Allison watched, whining, "Ewwww, gross," as she did.

"You are of course, right, Shepard. I take back what I said. Though I'm sure you all knew I wasn't serious."

The elder two girls nodded, grinning. Shepard shook her head. She knew better. Liara had told her much the same years before. Being caught out in a small lie to the press was fine, she'd said, as long as it got them off your back long enough for the big stuff to blow over. And if the lie was small enough, they probably wouldn't even catch it before you stopped being news. Of course, at the time Liara hadn't known Earth reporters. They were like a dog with a bone if they caught you in a lie, and Shepard was very glad she'd never had to resort to that. It could have gotten messy fast. It worked well enough for asari media though; asari reporters were rather laid back in comparison to their human counterparts.

"I'd like to know what you were doing in here," Shepard said, glancing around the mostly empty room.

"Illy got picked to work for the school paper. She was practicing."

Shepard's eyes went wide in mock horror. "Please tell me you're kidding, Allison. My daughter? A reporter?" She gave an exaggerated shudder, sending Illira a goofy grin.

"I'm an editor Daddy. But pretending to be an editor isn't very fun. So at home, I'm a reporter." She grinned at her father, and then shoved the hairbrush a her. "Tell me, Commander Shepard," she said in her 'reporter' voice, "is it true that you eat worms for desert?"

"As a matter of fact, it is," she answered, "They're rather fruity. There's bag in my briefcase, if you want some?"

She hadn't even finished speaking before Allison was off her lap and headed for the stairs, her sister close on her heels. Shepard stood, helping Liara up and taking the baby from her. "She's actually editor-in-chief, just below the teacher in charge. It's a very important job."

"I don't doubt it, but if gummy worms keep her from thinking about becoming a reporter when she grows up, I'm more than happy to lose my stash." Liara rolled her eyes. "So, are we really having stuffed mushrooms for dinner? Because that sounds just about amazing."

"We'll see. It depends on how hyper the children become from your diversion tactics."

Shepard stuck her tongue out at Liara, swung Kiyett onto her hip, and went to make sure that the sugar high she'd just promised her kids didn't completely destroy her own dinner.

* * *

Liara saw her easily as she rounded the corner. She was sitting on the bench, Erra sitting beside her. They were in identical poses, arms hanging loosely between their knees, heads hung sadly. Erra was holding a black bag; Teiron was spinning something slowly in her hands. She wasn't supposed to be back yet. She'd debated sending for them, bringing them to Thessia, rather than face the press on the Citadel. The Westerlund news story hadn't filtered completely back to Thessia yet, and Liara held out hope that it wouldn't. The humans might still think her love life was something interesting, but she wasn't famous enough in asari circles for this to register. She hoped.

She was no stranger to the press. Teiron, on the other hand...

Liara had spotted the story when Glyph had tagged it. She'd called Teiron, amused, ready to crack a joke about her having a human lover on the side, seeing as she was shopping at a rather upscale human jeweler. When the call had been answered, though, Teiron had been near tears. She'd sobbed into the omni-tool, her apologies barely understandable. Liara had tried to soothe her. Tried to calm her. It had eventually worked, but Liara knew that she hadn't been able to completely ease her fears. She hadn't told Teiron she was coming back early.

As she watched, hidden by the crowds, Teiron handed what she was holding to Erra, who dropped it into the bag. They stood up as one, Erra slipping her smaller hand into her mother's. Liara watched them round the corner, then followed. Part of her wanted to go to them, join them. Another part of her enjoyed tailing them, observing them without their knowing. She'd never been able to do this before. Or, rather, she'd never let herself do this before. She moved through the crowd, keeping them just in sight. There was a thrill to it, akin to when she'd go into battle with Shepard. The chance that they'd turn, see her. Know she was following them. She had a few decades of hide-n-seek under her belt, though, and the Citadel had much better places to hide than her living room.

Mother and daughter walked along the ward. They slowed as they merged into the main shopping thoroughfare, Erra dragging her mother from toy store to toy store. They stopped in front of a very familiar shop and slipped inside. Liara shook her head and moved quickly to catch up to them.

"Something I should know about?" she asked, leaning against the wall just inside the store. She smiled, and just kept herself from laughing when Teiron jumped and Erra almost dropped the bag she was holding.

"Liara!" Erra screamed, making the human male behind the counter wince. She flung herself across the room, jumping into Liara's arms, her legs tightening around her waist, head buried in her shoulder.

"Sometimes I swear she loves you more than me," Teiron said. Two years ago Liara would have only heard the joke, but today she could hear the strain behind it. The question. She wondered if Teiron had always been like that, if there had been that same undercurrent of disbelief when they'd first met. She'd been so confident, so sure of herself. But that tone, that cocked hip, they were still Teiron. And she loved her for it.

"It is probably because I make better chocolate chip cookies."

Teiron grinned, the one Liara had always thought looked like Shepard's. It didn't, not really. There was the same strength behind it, the same feel that she knew exactly what she wanted, the same quirkiness, but it was tempered. Perhaps by years, or just by Teiron's personality. Whatever it was, it left Liara's knees weak, and she was crazily happy that she didn't have to hide it. "I don't make chocolate chip cookies," Teiron grinned.

"Exactly," Liara said, putting Erra down.

"Mom's gonna return the stuff she bought you." Erra looked up at Liara with large, innocent eyes.

"Is that so?" Liara laughed, "Or are you just trying to get your mother in trouble."

"Both," Erra said plainly.

"After what happened, I just didn't think it would really be appropriate."

"As I informed the you earlier, madam, I cannot accept returns on this item." Liara scowled at the tall, wiry man and he took a half step backwards. She might be mostly ignored by her own people, but humans still knew her face. And they knew what she could do when angry. There was still footage of her screaming at the president, just after Shepard had died the first time.

"Let me see it," she said, as playfully as possible. She knew what it was. Allison had brought up the sales receipt; had come running through the house, Glyph floating behind her. She'd gone on for hours about the non-bondmate-bondmate bracelet. It had taken a lot of convincing to keep her from calling her sisters.

Teiron picked up a box from the counter, and handed it over. "It was stupid. And, I give you permission to think less of me for it."

"Don't be foolish," Liara muttered, opening the box. The bracelet sat cradled on a satin cushion. It twinkled in the soft light of the overhead lights. "It's beautiful." She picked it up and slipped it on her right wrist. She glanced, once, at the door, and spotted the cameras that were trying to blend into the crowd. She smiled, right at them, then leaned over and kissed Teiron. They wanted a show, they could have one.

She heard the crowd outside murmur. They were pointedly not looking into the shop, but they were all reporters. And all human. That was in their favor, at least. She gathered Erra into a hug, slipped her hand into Teiron's, and hoped the asari media would leave them alone. Humans were easy. They wanted a story. Liara T'Soni was a story. She'd been married to the first human spectre. She was the mother of her children. For the past forty years, not horribly long for humans but quite a time all the same, Liara hadn't settled down. She'd taken lovers, but never for very long, not long enough for the media to catch wind of them, a day, maybe a week, never longer than a month. During that vital period right after Shepard died, when humanity had once again blazed her name in the stars, Liara had remained on her estate on Thessia and had stayed there until the media storm was over. It had been a dull couple of years recently, though, news wise, and humans weren't happy without a story.

With a dirty look over her shoulder at the man behind the counter, Liara drug Teiron and Erra from the store. They didn't rush them, like she'd expected. They didn't push and shove and corner them. They watched, from a distance, the hovering cameras shifting around to get the best view. They didn't push forward until Liara actually began to think they wouldn't follow them. She squeezed Teiron's hand, Erra's shoulder, then turned to face them.

"Dr. T'Soni, is it true that you and your asari lover are expecting a child?"

"Liara, what do you think Commander Shepard would think of your new girlfriend?"

"Can we expect another T'Soni wedding in the near future?"

The reporters all spoke on top of each other, jostling to get as close to the couple and Erra as they could. The cameras flew in close, their lenses whirring softly as they focused. Liara knew one, maybe two of the faces in the crowd. She knew all the networks, however, every logo. They were almost like old friends. The kind that at some point you decide to stop answering when they call, and when you change your extranet address you don't mention the change. They were the kind of friends that would borrow your vacuum cleaner 'for an afternoon' and you wouldn't see it again for the next six months. She and Shepard hadn't had many friends like that, certainly none of the Normandy crew, but she knew the type well enough. And news networks were all like that.

"I'm not going to answer any questions right now. You will avoid contact with Teiron, her daughter, and everyone they know. You all know my number, call me to set up an interview if there is something you want to discuss. I will be on the Citadel for the next four weeks. Plan accordingly." She spun on a heel, tugging gently at Teiron's hand to get her moving again.

"That was, how'd you do that? Can you teach me?"

Liara laughed, hooking her arm through Teiron's, their elbows locked. "It's practice more than anything. Thankfully, it is not something you easily forget."

"Will they listen?"

"I have friends in high places if they don't, and they know that. More than one reporter over the years got more than just Shepard's fist in their nose."

"Do I want to meet these friends?" Teiron asked, glancing at a keeper that was scurrying by. She'd met one of Liara's 'secret' friends, she wasn't sure she could handle another.

"Probably not." Liara wasn't about to tell her already had. That she was walking down the street with her.

"Liara?" Erra asked, "What are you doing here? We didn't expect you until next week."

Teiron laughed. "I wasn't going to say anything."

"I remember, right after Sovereign attacked the Citadel. Shepard was terrified of the cameras. She hid from them. The Alliance would call a press conference and she'd fake a stomach ache. That went on for nearly a week. Benezia, she used to take me along with her when she went to speak with reporters. She'd have them over for dinner if there was some big thing she was proposing to the democracy. By the time I was twenty I knew more tricks on how to get rid of reporters than most people do by the time they die. I don't like them, and I avoid them when I can, but when I can't." She shrugged. "That non-interview you gave, it looked like you could use some help. What kind of friend would I be if I left you hanging in that mess?"

"Thanks. Bunch of hovering carrion eaters."

"Vultures. They're a human bird. And strangely enough, reporters do act remarkably like them. I didn't believe Shepard at first, but," she shrugged again, "so, could I interest you two ladies in dinner?"

"Goddess, yes," Erra sighed, "I'm starving."


	18. Chapter 17

With a deft swing, Shepard swung Illira up onto the changing table. The girl gave her a tear-stained grimace and kicked wildly, not sure whether to be happy or not that daddy was changing her diaper. She'd wanted mommy, obviously, and wasn't sure if dad was a decent substitute. Actually, she was fairly certain that dad was not in any waya decent substitute. Shepard undid the snaps at the bottom of her onesie and the not-quite-fussing became much closer to full-blown crying.

"Hey now, bright eyes, blue baby girl. My little starlight. None of that. Daddy's got you. I know I don't smell like mom, and I can't feed you like mom, and I'm probably just a little bit scarier than mom, but I do know what I'm doing. At least, I'm fairly certain I know what I'm doing. The last time I did this you weren't quite so mobile."

That didn't go over well, and Illira scrunched up her face to scream. Dad was not nearly as good at this whole thing as mom was, and Illira was going to let her displeasure be known.

"Hey, hey," Shepard said soothingly, bracing her daughter with one hand and undoing the sticks on the diaper with the other. "Oh, what was that song? The one your mommy sings?" Shepard shrugged, abandoning it, her asari was weak at best as it was, and went with one she'd been taught just recently. "The grand ol' Duke of York," she sang, pulling down the diaper and making a face. Just what was Liara feeding her? She was fairly certain that living creatures shouldn't make things that color.

The sing-song quality of her voice quieted Illira, though, or maybe it was just having the dirty diaper away from her skin. In either case, the diaper came off easily.

"He had ten thousand men," Shepard continued, cleaning Illira's dirty bottom and tossing the dirty diaper into the pail beside her. "He marched them up to the top of the hill, then he marched them down again." Shepard went to grab the clean diaper, but there weren't any in the little cubby where they usually were.

Illira bent herself practically in half in an attempt to grab her toes. Shepard kept her still with a hand on her belly and bent down in search of a clean diaper. She knew she should have looked for it first, but really, who thought of that sort of thing when you're holding a baby that smelled like death? Finding the clean diaper, and the powder she stood back up. Illira had gotten her foot in her mouth despite Shepard's hand and arm in the way, and her father removed it with a laugh. She had never thought she'd get this. A beautiful wife, a gorgeous baby girl. And she got to retain command of the Normandy, even while she regained her commission with the Alliance. Life was, on the whole, good.

"When they were up, they were up," she continued to sing, sliding the clean diaper on. "And when the were down they were down, but when they were only half way up," Shepard sang, buttoning the onesie and adjusting it. "They were neither up," she tapped a finger on Illira's nose, "nor down." She tickled her daughter's feet and got kicked, hard, in the arm for her efforts. Shepard winced, smiled, and nodded at her own handiwork.

She picked her daughter up, holding her out at arm's length. "Alright, all clean?" she asked, turning the baby this way and that. Illira laughed, something she'd just figured out how to do during Shepard's last tour. That was the only draw back. Milestones were being missed, caught only on delayed holotape. But it was a small price, in Shepard's opinion. Usually she was able to get back every couple of weeks. The Normandy needed restocking, and she needed time with her bondmate and daughter. This last time though, six months. Six months she'd been gone, and so much had changed. And she was leaving again in less then two weeks. All the same, it was better for Liara and Illira than being stuck onboard the Normandy.

Satisfied that there wouldn't be any leaks, Shepard tucked Illira into the crook of her arm. Turning, she saw Liara standing in the doorway.

"What were you singing?" she asked.

"I thought you had an agent down, or something? And, it's just something I picked up on the Normandy. Traynor taught it to me."

For a highly trained combat specialist, Shepard missing the way Liara's eyes narrowed was a rather horrible oversight. Missing the tone of Liara's voice when she spoke was criminal.

"Samantha Traynor?"

"I was unaware there was another. British?" Glare. "Cute." If looks could kill. "Plays a mean game of chess." Shepard would be dead. "Other than Joker, she was the only one that would let me show off the holos you sent me of this little munchkin." Shepard tickled Illira's belly, and completely missed that she was very close to being the victim of what most would call a justifiable homicide.

"Really," Liara said slowly, coldly.

"Really," Shepard said brightly, still hopelessly oblivious. "She'd bring up the chess board, we'd play, and she'd listen. Because really, Joker only put up with it because he couldn't run away."

"You were alone with her." It wasn't a question, but Shepard answered anyway.

"As alone as we could be, I guess, with EDI having the camer-" The rest of Shepard's statement was cut of abruptly as Liara turned on a heel and marched down the hall, the door to the nursery sliding closed before Shepard even knew what was happening. "I think I did something wrong, Illy," Shepard sighed, finally catching on, "Guess I should go find out what."

Shepard followed Liara down the hall and found her in front of her monitors. The last chess game Shepard had played with Traynor, a little over two weeks before, was playing on the screen.

"I don't know why I keep agreeing to this," the Shepard in the video was saying, "all it does is teach me new ways to lose."

"Is the great Commander Shepard humbled?" Traynor's image retorted.

"Hardly. Oh, look," the virtual Shepard said, bringing up her omni-took, "Liara sent me some new pictures. Look at this grin. Is she not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? And my kid's not a bad looker either," she laughed. She pushed her arm into Traynor's face, who looked at the images as they were flipped through in front of her.

In their Citadel apartment Shepard watched Liara flip backwards through various other games. Traynor teaching her the song she'd sung while changing Illira's diaper, and other, nonsense, rhymes. Repeatedly letting Shepard brag about her daughter, her smile not even slightly forced. Shepard knelt down beside her bondmate, moving Illira up to her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she said, though she wasn't sure what she'd done. It was something she'd learned quickly with Liara. Even if she didn't know what she had done to upset her, apologizing to Liara was generally a smart move if she was angry.

Instead of answering, Liara spun from her chair and leapt into Shepard's arms, slowing herself at the last second to keep from squashing Illira between them. She hadn't truly believed that anything had happened, she trusted Shepard, and Traynor wasn't the type to mess with a married woman, but the last six months had been so hard. "You are an oblivious, idiotic, stupid, wonderful, woman Commander Shepard."

"I could have told you that," Shepard said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "But you love me anyway."

Liara took Illira from Shepard's arms, and, tucking the baby up against her breast, turned and settled herself into her bondmate's embrace, her back pressed against Shepard's chest. They sat like that, in silence, on the floor, for a long time.

Illira rooted around until Liara finally gave in and moved enough to lift her shirt and allow the baby to nurse. She glanced up at Shepard, as if daring her to say a word. This time, at least, Shepard got the hint and kept her mouth closed. She reached around, rubbing Illira's head as she fed, was burped, and fell asleep. Their daughter fast asleep in her arms, Liara leaned her head back and looked up at Shepard. The Spectre kissed her, softly, then brought them both to their feet.

"Shepard?"

"Mmn," she answered, hugging Liara from behind.

"Promise me something."

"Anything." She trailed kisses down Liara's neck. She glanced down at Illira, then went back to nuzzling.

"Never let Samantha Traynor into your cabin ever again."

Shepard laughed into Liara's shoulder, tugging her gently toward the nursery. Illira really needed to be put properly to bed. "Why don't you like her," Shepard laughed, then, catching Liara's glared simply sighed and amended, "Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

* * *

It didn't even occur to her to knock. As the door slid opened it dawned on her that this was not her apartment, that she did not, officially, live here. That it didn't matter, that she could just walk in, uninvited, and be granted a cocky smile and quick kiss left her feeling foolishly content. She didn't look up from the datapad she was reading as she entered the room, blindly hitting the button to shut the door behind her. She glanced up as she moved into the living room. It may have been well over two centuries, probably closer to four, since she'd seen combat, but some skills never fully leave you, and there was something just slightly _off_ about the feel of the room.

Teiron was grinning at her from the sofa, her smirk amused. Erra wasn't there, but that wasn't unusual. She spent a lot of time at her friend Milyn's anymore, having reached that age when staying home with one's parents was the epitome of uncool. She couldn't put her finger on what was off, it looked like any normal Friday evening in Teiron's apartment. She shook the feeling off, dropped her bag and the datapad next to the door and slid onto the sofa next to Teiron. Liara slipped an arm around her shoulder, and Teiron tucked herself up under her arm.

"How's Illira?" Teiron asked, muting the vid screen.

"She's doing well. She'll be moving to Illium next year. Erra isn't going to be too happy."

"You're kidding right? Illira has quickly been added to her list of people she loves to hate. Recently it included you and me as well, but I think we earned our way back into her good graces while you were gone. It can get rather frustrating when you aren't here, actually." Teiron smirked as Liara batted her leg.

"Is she at Milyn's for the night?" Liara asked, wondering if it was wrong that a small part of her was hoping she was. She loved Erra as her own daughter, but there was something about a quiet evening, just her and Teiron that was somewhat liberating. Their evenings were usually the same, dinner, a movie, bed, but though Erra was often a silent companion, it was simply different when she wasn't there.

"They're back in her bedroom, actually."

That was what was wrong, then. There was someone else in the house. She'd never been quite as good as Garrus, and hadn't even registered beside Shepard, but she'd survived alone on Nos Astra, and that meant knowing roughly if the number of people in a room was the number you expected to find. It was a sound in the air, a pressure. An empty room was very different from one with a person in it, even if they were sleeping. Every person added something to the feel of a room, a building. A truly vacant building felt very different from one that had a handful of people hiding in a corner.

"Is that wise?" Liara asked, pulling away. Teiron followed, shaking her head, not letting Liara remove her arm.

Teiron laughed, cuddling closer. "Milyn's mother was not exactly pleased with her daughter continuing her friendship with Erra, but apparently her most recent live in boyfriend, actually they may be bonded now that I think about it, joined the Alliance based on old Shepard recruitment vids. They were standing there, in the school yard, begging to come over, she's spouting off lines about how her daughter isn't going to spend any time in the house of family like _that." _Teiron sat up straighter, fighting off a deep belly laugh that was threatening to overtake her. She used a few choice swear words, a handful of derogatory terms, as she mimicked what Milyn's mother had said, then continued, "And her boyfriend comes up, he's six-foot six, built like a truck, and he says, he tells her that if she ever says one thing about Commander Shepard's widow like that ever again he'd not only leave, he'd file a complaint with the consulate for mistreatment of human interests or something like that." She buried her face in her hands, laughing. It was a contagious laugh, and Liara found herself laughing with her. "Ultimately though, I'm fairly certain he was cutting of melding privileges, even if he didn't say as much," she added with a wink.

"That's, um, surprising. And, kind of nice. I am not entirely sure how to respond to that," Liara laughed.

"By going and saying hi to them. I'll start dinner," Teiron answered, planting a lingering kiss on her lips before heading into the kitchen.

Liara watched her, drinking in the sight of her moving. She would have remained there, watching Teiron cook was one of her secret pleasures, but the object of her interest glared at her over her shoulder. She smirked and headed down the hall.

Erra's door was open, and the two girls were sitting on the floor, knees touching. Liara leaned against the door frame, watching the girls play. They were playing an asari hand game, one Liara had played herself, before her parentage had spread through the school and the few friends she'd had turned their backs on her. They came to the end of the song, and started again, faster.

"Maiden Maiden, Young and bright, Run and Wander Dance and Fight," the girls sang in unison, their hands keeping time, "Matron Matron, Baby on your knee, Show me what you'll do for me. Have you wisdom, Matriarch? Then teach me to, Not Fear the Dark." And again, the second verse, faster still, their hands little more than a blur.

Finally, their hands missed, the song broke apart and they fell to giggling on the floor. Erra spotted Liara in the doorway and stood up, running at her.

"Liara! Mom said you'd be back today. I didn't believe her." She wrapped her arms around Liara's waist, hugging her tight.

"You should believe what your mother tells you," Liara laughed. "And hello, Milyn. I see Erra has no manners."

"Hello Dr. T'Soni," Milyn said, looking uncomfortable.

"Liara? Milyn wanted to know something," Erra said, stepping back from Liara.

"I didn't! Erra don't ask!" Milyn said, burying her face in her hands.

Liara braced herself. Questions about asari sexuality, about her thoughts on her own pureblood status, how she could bear to be with another asari, how they dared to flaunt custom so horribly. "It's okay, you can ask me anything," she said, trying to keep the strain out of her voice.

"Do humans have to brush all the hair on their bodies?" Erra asked over the sound of Milyn's protests.

That wasn't at all what Liara was expecting and it took her a moment to even process the question. "I. Um. No. No, they don't. I thought your mother's new bondmate was a human, Milyn."

"Yes. But he's a...a _boy._" Erra said.

Liara barely kept the smile from her face and her tone. "Well, no. Human's only really brush the hair on the top of their heads." She tried very hard not to laugh at the image of Shepard brushing all the tiny hairs on her arms, or her pubic hair. That did it. Shepard shaving it had been amusing enough the first time she'd caught her bondmate doing it, thinking of her brushing it like she had the hair on her head was too much. She laughed while she tried to finish her answer, "And I understand that human males occasionally brush the hair on their face if it grows out long enough." This gave her another rather vivid mental image, and she had to turn away to stop laughing.

"Is it really that funny, Liara?" Erra asked, obviously concerned.

"No, no it's not," Liara said, finally composed.

"See, I told you. He was just teasing!" Erra told Milyn, returning to the floor of her room.

"Well, they could!" Milyn protested.

A good-natured argument broke out between the girls, and Liara left them to their bickering. She was still chuckling at the very idea of a human attempting to brush _all_ her hair when she slipped into the kitchen. Teiron turned when she came in, and her smile was much too knowing for its own good. Liara glared at her, reached over her shoulder to grab a slice of sweet onion from the cutting board, and shook her head.

"You knew they were going to ask me that."

Teiron grinned, attempting to protect the rest of the cut vegetables. "They might have mentioned something about it on the way home."

"And you might have mentioned that they'd do better to ask me?"

"Possibly?"

"I expected something horribly deep and thoughtful, you understand. I never had a grand inspiring speech for Illira, but I had one for Erra and her friend." Liara said, pinning Teiron against the counter. "All about how it was okay for us to be together. All about genetic lines. Biology. And then they asked if humans brush their body hair."

"The look on your face was probably priceless, though."

"You are an evil," she kissed her, "evil," again "evil," again, "woman."

"I didn't do anything. If you don't let me go though, dinner is going to burn."

Liara reached out, her mind brushing casually against Teiron's. Teiron's eyes fluttered closed and her hands clutched desperately against the counter. It was, Liara had found, one of the advantages of being with another asari. A trick Teiron had taught her and had regretted ever since. Alien physiology didn't allow such a shallow, brief meld, or the ability to control it so deftly. She felt, more than heard, Teiron's breath hitch and stepped away from her.

"Where are you going?" Teiron breathed, her voice and hands shaking.

"I brought some work from Thessia. They've been cataloging some Prothean artifacts, and asked me to double-check their findings. And I thought dinner was going to burn." She grinned over her shoulder at Teiron, who was glaring daggers at her back.

"You can't, that was, unfair. A very mean trick."

Liara stopped in the dining room and shook her head. She went back. Teiron was still leaning against the counter. She frowned slightly as Liara came up to her. She kissed her, softly, slowly, then leaned her forehead against Teiron's.

"Yes, it was. But you love me anyway."

"Just so long as you're sorry," Teiron muttered, returning to the pots on the stove.

"Very." Liara pressed a soft kiss on the folds on Teiron's neck, getting a shiver in return. "I'll go make sure the girls wash their hands."

Teiron didn't answer, but watched her leave. This was going into her top ten list of best days, she figured, thinking about the bulky soldier putting Milyn's mother in her place and Liara's soft kisses. Maybe things wouldn't be as bad as she'd thought they'd be after the news story broke into the asari press. Liara didn't seem to mind, and Teiron was more than happy to follow her lead.


	19. Chapter 18

Liara set the swing up, double checked the oxygen tube and then kissed Allison on the forehead before easing herself down into Shepard's recliner. They'd only been on Thessia for a month, Allison had just been released from the hospital, and Liara was exhausted. Shepard had just left two days earlier. Ashley was taking over the Normandy, having finally achieved spectre status four years before, and Shepard had been reassigned to an Alliance vessel, the Everest, which was set to patrol the Traverse. She wouldn't be gone long, Liara hoped, but being away from the Citadel made casual, weekend visits a thing of the past.

Hannah Shepard was spending the week with Liara. Normally, if she'd been anyone else, Liara would have been ecstatic for the extra pair of hands around the house, especially now that they were in the large Armali estate where she had grown up. The elder Shepard though always left Liara feeling a little uneasy, and having her here, on Thessia, left a bad taste in her mouth. She'd been nothing but polite, had even taken Illira out to the park just a couple of hours before, but Liara kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. She knew Hannah couldn't stand her. She knew that if the woman had her way Shepard wouldn't be anywhere near her, but she did seem to care of Illira, and seemed doubly taken with Allison. Still, having her mother-in-law around just made the regular stress of the day ten times worse.

With Allison asleep, Liara knew she should probably get around to finishing unpacking the little they had brought from the Citadel, but she really didn't want to.

With a tired sigh she brought up her omni and adjusted it to link up with the vid screen tucked in a corner. Invisible when not in use, it flared to life, and Liara flipped mindlessly through the channels. She passed a turian sitcom, a cross-species drama produced on the Citadel, three asari soaps and the public broadcasting showing of the elcor production of Hamlet before settling on 'Your Morning with Aysel L'Coyn'. It was mindless drivel, and it was exactly what Liara needed right then.

Aysel had Blasto, Yechimdis was the actor's face name, Catches the Evening Wind Unawares was the his soul name if her agents were to be believed, and she generally did believe them, sitting with her. They were discussing the newest Blasto movie, 'Blasto 10: Captured Heat Sink'. She'd wanted to see it, Shepard had a fondness for the Blasto movies, even if she insisted that the first was by the far the best, and it had rubbed off just a little on Liara. Though she wouldn't admit it to anyone, she had the previous nine, and the three Christmas specials and the Janaris special hidden away.

With two small children and a bondmate that was gone more often than not, she figured she deserved a single guilty pleasure.

She perked up a little as the conversation turned from Yechimdis' plans for films outside the Blasto franchise and to some shots from the newest movie. It looked as cheesy and poorly done as the others and Liara hoped it hit holotape soon. The interview finished, and Aysel brought out her next guest. Domino Masque's lead singer, Domino Hatrix, had moved on to a solo career about two years earlier and had just had his first number one hit. She zoned back out as he got up to sing, wondering exactly why she continued to remain seated in the chair watching this horror.

Aysel was unfunny, pushy, and fairly obnoxious. She'd been on the air for about sixty years, and apparently your average matron enjoyed it. Liara didn't see it, though she couldn't draw herself away as Domino continued to sing.

An hour later, Allison was still asleep, and Liara was still glued to the vid screen. Aysel made her goodbyes, and the show ended, effectively breaking the spell on Liara. She shook her head, wondering exactly how the time had gotten away from her. She didn't normally zone out like that. Allison was still asleep, thank goodness, but nothing she had planned to do during her daughter's nap had any hope of being done before she woke up now. She got up, stretched, her back popping more than it probably should have considering she'd only been sitting for an hour. She checked the tubes helping her daughter's breathing, made sure nothing was caught, kissed her softly and made her way into the kitchen. Hannah was sitting at the breakfast table, Illira beside her eating lunch.

"Liara," she said. It wasn't exactly cold, but Liara had no hope that she and her mother-in-law would ever get along, but at least they'd both found a way to be civil to each other.

"Hannah. I didn't hear you get back." She poured herself a glass of water, and slid into the chair across from her daughter. Illira gave her a gap toothed smile around a giant bite of what Liara thought Shepard called a 'Grilled Cheese Sandwich', though Liara was fairly sure that Shepard never made them on the very expensive grill she'd purchased when they'd moved out here and then had never even turned on.

"I looked in on you, it looked like both you and Allison were asleep." Liara thought she heard a heavy disappointment in her tone, and wasn't about to admit she was actually just sitting and watching day time talk shows.

"It was a rough morning," she said, then regretted it. It sounded like an excuse, though it was the complete truth.

"Do you want me to take them both for the afternoon? You could catch up on some sleep."

"I'm fine. My, uh, nap, helped."

Hannah smiled. It was forced, but warmer than any she'd sent in her direction before. "Of course." They sat in silence for a moment, until Illira had finished eating. Liara sent her out into the common room to play, and began cleaning the dishes. Hannah stood up, her face blank. As she moved past Liara as she stood at the sink, she said, "I find The Jillian Show to be a much better choice, Aysel is a bit on the cheap side, really. Though she's been on the air almost as long as I've been alive, so I could be wrong." She breezed out of the kitchen just as Allison woke up, and went to go play with her granddaughter, leaving Liara to blush various shades of purple.

* * *

"I know you're all excited about our first guest. She helped saved the Citadel from a geth invasion, married the first human spectre, and wrote the best-selling children's book 'Journeies with a Prothean'; you know all your daughters love it! And just recently she's been making news with her work on the Gra'dali excavation in the southern province of Thessia. I have Liara T'Soni!" Aysel L'Coyn shouted to the crowd of asari in the audience. There was a tremendous cheer, brought on, more than likely, from the flashing lights that told them to more than any real interest in their guest. Not that T'Soni wasn't interesting in her own right. She certainly was. Father an asari, mother a political figure that could move mountains. She'd written over eighty papers on the protheans, and three books, not including the children's picture book that was her only real claim to fame among the group gathered today. Stay-at-home matrons, with two point five daughters and an alien bondmate that would be dead by the time the youngest stopped suckling really didn't care about ancient aliens or the status of galactic events. They kept their nose in politics, sure, it was a duty, but they didn't really _care._ Not until the kids were grown and they were working again, anyway.

Still, however they'd gotten her here, Aysel hadn't been the number one daytime talk show on asari broadcasting for the last three hundred years for nothing. The audience might not be terribly interested in what was going on at the excavation, but they all wanted to know about Teiron Riela. How T'Soni had thought she could get away with it she didn't know, and she didn't really care. But she had a duty to her producer to get ratings. T'Soni taking Riela for her lover was understandable, really. After being bonded so young, and to a human that had lived so long, it would be only natural to seek the comfort of a willing mind. But rumor had it that this had been going on for years, that they had in fact known each other and had lived together _before_ the human spectre had died.

Liara walked out onto the stage, waved at the audience, and took a seat beside Aysel. She'd done a few of these shows about a hundred years back, after her children had left the house and she'd written the picture book. It had been a backdoor success, but hadn't been republished since the spectre's death, and had fallen back into obscurity. Except with those who had already read it, of course. It had almost achieved a cult following, though Aysel was fairly certain T'Soni didn't know about that.

"Hello, Aysel," the doctor said, sitting down on the overstuffed seating. She sank into the cushions and laughed as she pulled herself up into a more comfortable position. The crowd laughed and Aysel smelled award nomination.

"Welcome, Liara," Aysel said, shaking her hand. "I understand there are some huge discoveries that could change everything we know about galactic history being found out there in the provinces. Discovering we were once bi-gendered, huh?" She smiled easily, and T'Soni relaxed slightly.

"Nothing quite like that. But, there is evidence of prothean activity on Thessia stretching for a much longer time than we had originally presumed." T'Soni was looking right at the cameras, almost glaring at it. Aysel's producer was shouting, loudly, through the auditory implant to get the subject changed, and quickly.

"Maybe a few of us are descended from them, huh? Got some Prothean patterns in our history, right ladies?" The crowd followed instructions perfectly and laughed. "Speaking of," she continued before Liara could answer, "you can't have missed what's been all over the broadcasts lately. Shepard's widow has taken a new lover."

There were cat calls from the audience, and though Liara looked perhaps a little paler than she had when she walked on stage, she held her own better than Aysel would have expected. She should have known better, though, really. T'Soni had been raised in a media storm. Benezia had eaten reporters for breakfast, and she'd taught her daughter a thing or two about them apparently.

"I," she started, smiling wistfully, "I am seeing someone, yes." The audience was silent, waiting, but Liara didn't elaborate.

"The human media says you're living with her, and not just any her. Teiron Riela. Formerly worked for Aria T'Loak, CEO of Cerberus. And, you lived together once before, here on Illium. How do you handle being the child of two asari yourself; the backlash you must have gotten from this? You were in a relationship before, did it end badly? What prompted you to go back to her?"

Aysel could almost hear T'Soni's teeth grinding. It was a beautiful sound. It was the sound of syndication.

Liara was silent for a long time, just staring at the audience. Aysel tried to think of something else to say, something to force the doctor's hand. She was not going to be winning any awards if her guest choked on the first personal question. After a moment though, Liara smiled slowly. It wasn't a very pleasant grin, not up close like that, but in the monitors it looked almost sweet.

"In the interest of full disclosure, Teiron and I were never together the last time I was on Illium. I had fallen ill, she stayed with me until I was well. Shepard was missing, at the time, she had," Liara paused, biting her lower lip and staring thoughtfully into the distance. She was good. At a distance it looked perfectly real, this contemplation. Aysel was close enough to see that Liara T'Soni was a decent actor. "She had been gone for a few months when I first met Teiron, who was, and still is, one of my closest of friends. We ran into each other again about three years ago, and I guess the most I can say is that these things happen."

"But what about her being asari," Aysel prompted, noticing how deftly Liara had avoided that part of her question. "Doesn't that make you question your relationship, considering your own parentage? I know I would have a hard time accepting anything permanent with an asari, am I right?" she asked the audience. There was a murmur of assent, but it was not quite as loud as she expected. She glanced out at the crowd, and they were all watching T'Soni closely. Waiting, poised forward, for her answer.

"Why should it? Has the e-democracy passed a law against such a relationship while I wasn't looking? I certainly don't sign in half as often as I should." There was a low chuckle from the audience. Almost all asari did their civic duty, but most did so in stolen moments, catching up on news and positions in short bursts. Everyone here could relate. "I don't think they have, and I don't see myself as being anything less than any other asari simply because my mother decided that I would benefit more from having an asari as a father. If anything, I find it sad that it is even a question that people would think of asking."

There were nods in the audience and Aysel frowned. She was much too smooth with that response. If she didn't break her down she could kiss the book deal goodbye.

"Any children you had though; certainly it is an asari's duty to bring in the history, the ancestral strength's of the other species. It's the very basis of siari. The asari race will stagnate without the outside influence."

Her producer was yelling at her, telling her to retract the question. But T'Soni was already answering.

"Certainly not. The chances of certain genetic defects rise in the offspring of two asari, to a degree, but my own daughter was born with one of the rarest and deadliest of asari illnesses, and her father was human, and my family has no history of it on either side. Encouraging our daughter's to seek lovers outside ourselves is not a bad thing, Aysel, but they should not be discouraged from loving whomever they want. The first person I ever loved was human, and though she lived longer than most, she did eventually pass on. For all the training we have as children, there is no way to prepare for the feeling when a bondmate dies." There was a murmur through the crowd. Most had probably loved one of the shorter lived species, and had lost them. "They were some of the best years of my life, but I love Teiron. The fact that we are both daughters of Thessia should not make it so I have to ignore how I feel.

"There should not be shame attached to being in love. There should not be a fear. I have been known to ramble, to stutter, when talking about my love life, but I have had enough of this. Teiron, her daughter, they mean everything to me. Erra is as important to me as my own daughters. I am not ashamed. I will not hide, nor mince words.

"Whatever you want from me, Aysel, I will not give you. Siari claims 'all is one', you and I are as much a part of that as a turian or a human or a hanar. Should Teiron and I decide to have children that is our choice, our life, and they will add their personalities, their experiences to the asari the same as my current daughters, as Teiron's daughter, as your_ four_ daughters, Aysel." The emphasis. It was no secret that Aysel had four children, ranging in age from two hundred and fifty down to merely forty. What wasn't known, by anyone but herself, and the father, was her third child's father had been asari. They'd both agreed it would be best to deny it, to place a salarian in place as the father. There was no way she could know, but the way she was looking at her, the knowing smile. The audience didn't seem to catch on, but that could just be shock at T'Soni's speech. You might think such things, but you didn't say them aloud. Most asari didn't even think them anymore.

There was an eerie silence, and then the shouting of her producer. She was screaming at Aysel to get T'Soni off of there, now. She forced a smile out at the audience, at Liara.

"Well, I, I will keep that in mind. But first, we have a word from our sponsors." The camera's went dark and she spun on Liara. "What, by the Goddess, were you thinking?"

"I was simply answering your question," Liara said, leaning back. Her mic was off, and the crowd shifted uncomfortably, unable to hear their conversation.

"And didn't anyone teach you to watch what you say? I'm going to lose my job."

"Perhaps you should have stayed on topic, then?"

"Oh come off it, T'Soni. This isn't some science geek show. Our target audience is 400-700 year old matrons with a couple of kids at home. They don't give a damn about your prothean artifacts, but they have seen your name in the human papers about your recent love affair. What did you think I was going to ask you about?"

"I knew perfectly well what you would ask me. It might have been wise to consider my answer." She stood up, held out a hand which Aysel shook on instinct. "The asari are wrong. Spin this however you want, but think about Gionna when do." She smiled, that knowing smile, as she mentioned Aysel's daughter. She turned, waved once at the audience, and left the stage.

Liara stepped out into the Illium sunshine, and looked up at the towering buildings. She was in a tiny back corner of Nos Astra. She'd never been down this way when she'd lived here, but it wasn't much different from any other part of the port. That hadn't gone as badly as she expected. They'd set themselves up, and though she didn't doubt there would be problems in the future, she planted what seeds she could. As long as Teiron and Erra stayed on the Citadel they should avoid much of the repercussions of what she'd just done, but maybe, down the line, Illira would be able to find someone she loved without fear. She didn't expect things to be easy for her and Teiron, but she hoped she'd laid the first stone in the path for her daughter. It was no quick fix, but it might get people talking. If the show ever aired anyway.

She took a deep breath and started to walk away from the studio when she was stopped. She turned, and smiled at the asari that had taken her shoulder. She didn't know the asari personally, though she was fairly certain she had been the representative for Baria Frontiers when Liara had lived here. She'd lost her daughters when Sovereign attacked the Citadel, if Liara remembered correctly. She had to be close to eight hundred by now.

"Dr. T'Soni?"

"Can I help you?"

"I was in the audience today, I'm Erinya. I spoke with your bondmate, your former bondmate, many years ago. She helped me see the truth of a lot of things. I came today to see what sort of asari had captured the woman who made me see reason. I'm leaving, feeling foolish and wrong about so many things. What you said...I've thought about it, I know there are probably a lot of asari that have. It was always an uphill battle for me, my daughters, my older two daughters, they died too young to have dealt with it, but if they'd lived...and my current daughter, she's just barely a hundred, I like to think that you've made her life a little easier."

Liara smiled and patted her on the shoulder, "It was my intention to ease the way for our daughters."

"You don't know what it means...after Commander Shepard talked to me, I realized that maybe I had swung to far the other way, but it is just so refreshing. I wish you all the best."

"And you the same. Go with the Goddess, Erinya."

"And you." She walked away, and Liara watched her. She hoped what she had said wouldn't backfire.


	20. Chapter 19

**Just wanting to with a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Even to all those readers who will not be spending Thursday loaded up on turkey, mashed potatos and football. Also, I'm starting a new job at the beginning of the month, so there might be a bit of a dry spell coming up while I get used to the new schedule. Just a heads up in case I disappear for awhile! Now...to get the deep fryer ready...**

Shepard stared up at the moonless sky. In all the years that she had lived on Thessia, the lack of a moon had been the only thing that still occasionally bothered her. But not tonight, she was content tonight. Kiyett and Allison were asleep. Liara was reading the latest letter they'd received from Illira. She was traveling with a merchant train, and was enjoying the hell out of it apparently. She tried to focus on what her eldest had written, but in truth Liara's voice simply lulled her. She could listen to her bondmate speak forever. She could read the ingredients off a label and Shepard thought she'd be more than happy to listen.

"It's nice that she's happy," Liara said stiffly when she'd finished reading the letter. Shepard smirked at her tone. Clearly, Liara did not think that what Illira was up to was nice at all. She couldn't say she was exactly overjoyed that she'd gotten a rather intimate first person account of Illira's first sexual experience with a non-asari, but she'd been expecting it. Or at least, expecting that was what her daughter would get up to when she left home. She had not expected to have her bondmate suddenly stutter as the previously rather boring letter had turned into something Shepard might have read out of Fornax.

"Mmn, this Tas seems like a nice guy," she said, having had the second half of the letter to compose herself, "I mean, I don't see the attraction in drell, but I mean, you had that thing with Feron. Maybe it's genetic."

"I had no such thing," Liara mumbled, glaring at Shepard. She smirked though, more than aware that her bondmate was just teasing her.

"You don't need to deny it. I thought about taking Garrus to bed once," Shepard said, almost distractedly.

"You what?!" Liara choked, dropping the datapad that had Illira's letter on it. She shook her head as it filtered through her brain and she came to terms that Shepard was still just making fun of her.

Shepard laughed, "Gotcha. Seriously, Liara, lighten up. Maybe we should have taught her how much is exactly appropriate to share with ones parents, but it's good for her. Just because you had something against all the people you worked with on your digs does not mean that our daughter is so picky. I wasn't at her age. Well, not her _age,_ I was decidedly more picky thirty years ago," she said, grinning at her bondmate then shaking her head, "I will never get used to that," she sighed.

"It isn't funny Shepard. What if she gets pregnant? What if something happens to her? I really think we should tell her to come home."

"She's seventy years old, Liara. She's not going to get pregnant, she's a damn fine shot and while her biotics aren't anything on yours, she knows how to take care of herself. We tell her to come home and she's just going to resent us. Didn't your mother try that with you?"

Liara didn't answer the question, lowering her eyes as she thought about it. Benezia had tried, repeatedly, to get her daughter to stop her seemingly pointless search into the Protheans, and every time she asked Liara had become more insistent on never speaking to her mother again. She wondered, sometimes, if she had gone back, if she hadn't been so stubborn, if things might have turned out differently for Benezia. She tried not to think about it too hard, though. She might have saved her mother, but she might also have never met Shepard. As much as she missed Benezia, she wasn't about to give up her bondmate even in a daydream. Instead, she asked, "What about Nillye?"

"Who? What, Illira's bondmate when I died?"

Liara nodded silently, shoulders sagging. Shepard sat up and pulled her into her lap. She wrapped her arms around Liara's waist, and settled her chin on her shoulder. "What if she's out there?" Liara whispered

"Well, Amerra did have a thing for that turian engineer we picked up just before I left the Normandy. But in the very unlikely event that she was born, there is no reason to believe that they'll ever find each other. It's a big galaxy. Or that they'll even like each other. I'd love to meet her, but you can't live Illira's life for her. And you can't force her into choices. She'll come home when she's ready." Shepard kissed the side of her crest, then pulled her back so they were both lying on the lawn chair.

"I know," Liara sighed, rolling onto her side and snuggling herself up against Shepard. "It's hard though. I can usually separate them. For all I thought when she was little they were the same..." she sighed again, melancholy.

"As long as she's happy and safe, it's all okay right?"

"Right," Liara said, smiling, lifting herself up enough to kiss Shepard on the lips.

"And in the event anyone tries anything, they will regret ever messing with Commander Shepard's daughter. Period. I love you, Liara. And I love our daughters. And I'm fairly sure they love us most of the time, too."

"I love you too, Shepard. Even if you have become much too wise in your old age."

"Who you calling old, asari?" Shepard demanded with a grin.

They laughed together, curling back up and staring up at the sky. A couple of the orbiting space stations winked at them as they orbited, blinking out a silent dance across the sky. A fish splashed in the pond, an insect sang a high-pitched song to the night, the large, night birds that Shepard thought of as owls no matter how many times Liara told her their names, hooted. The night encased them, eased whatever fears they had for the first of their daughters to leave home.

The following morning Kiyett found them still lying there, fast asleep.

* * *

The Citadel baths were inherently different from those on Thessia. For one thing, most of the Thessian baths were built right into the natural formations of the earth, centered on the hot springs and underground wells that dotted much of the land masses on the planet. Here, twice baked tile and faux stone floors caused a heavy echo to permeate the air. Children laughing rang out into the main hall of the ward, and the sound of muffled conversation was normal. Most asari colonies had baths similar to this, building these fake caves cheaper than excavating the land of alien planets, but there was something about the type of asari that lived on the Citadel that changed the entire atmosphere. There were fewer matriarchs, more maidens. It was noisier because of that, though on the whole there were also fewer children.

The ritual was the same, though. Perhaps it had changed some over the last few thousand years, but on the whole things like this were passed from mother to daughter and were held in the highest esteem. You simply did not _not _bring your daughter to the baths at least once a month. It might be easier to stick them under the spray of an apartment shower, and quite a bit faster, but that didn't change the fact that as a mother it was a duty to make the time to bring them here. Running between the benches in the long central hall with the open cubicles that held clothes and valuables was a memory every asari child had. And then the walk, through the narrow, deep pools. The water in these was mixed with various chemicals and minerals, things that broke up much of the harden goo that had a tendency to build up under the scales. It killed the bacteria that caused scale rot without the unpleasant side effects of most antibiotics. It prevented most communicable diseases from spreading into the bath proper.

It was here that Teiron and Erra stood, waiting in the line to enter. There was a young matron, probably no more than a decade out of her maidenhood, if that, carrying a very small infant against her chest in front of them. From the nervous glances the young woman gave the narrow pool as they approached it, Teiron didn't think she was far off in believing that it was the baby's first trip to the public baths. She remembered bringing Erra for the first time, the tiny, screaming bundle that had hated the water so furiously that Teiron had ended up leaving with her rather than try to calm her. She'd have given anything that day for her mother to be there, and it looked as if the woman before her was thinking much the same, though her daughter slept peacefully against her shoulder.

"How old?" Teiron asked as they inched forward.

"Um, six, six weeks," the woman stuttered, running a soothing hand over the baby's back.

"They are a handful at that age. Never let you sleep. You think your maiden years prepare you, the long nights, the loud music. No bar has anything on a baby that you've fed, changed and rocked and still won't go to sleep."

The woman smiled, shakily. "She's, she's a fairly good sleeper, actually. We've, um, I've been lucky."

"Can I see?" Erra asked, bouncing up on the balls of her feet trying to see the baby's face.

The matron lowered the child from her shoulder. For a second Teiron thought the baby had no facial markings at all, a rarity but not unheard of, but then she noticed the fine, light spots that covered the girl's face. They were lighter than Liara's, and more prevalent, but similar. Much like the melanin concentrations humans called 'freckles'. "She's beautiful. Daddy waiting at home?"

"No. Well, yes, but, no. I, I don't know."

Teiron smiled at her, reassuringly. "I get it. Dad's can be fickle things. Human?"

The woman shook her head, hugging the baby close to her chest again. Teiron let it drop and pulled Erra away from trying to catch another peek at the baby. They moved forward again and the woman stood at the edge of the pool, shifting the baby uncomfortably. She started to enter the water but then stepped back, as if the water might burn the child.

"Here, let me give you a hand," Teiron finally said, not sure if it was frustration or sympathy that drove her to speak to the woman again. "Just make sure the bottoms of the feet don't touch the water first. It tickles, according to my daughter anyway."

She entered the pool with the woman and together they were able to keep the baby from crying. The young mother carefully dripped water over the baby's head, which finally woke the girl up, but she didn't do more than fuss fitfully before mother and child were on their way. Teiron watched as the mother gave the maiden behind them, not much younger than the mother, a longing look before scurrying off. Teiron sighed, forced Erra through the narrow pool and moved out of the way for the maiden. She pulled Erra up short before she could run ahead.

"Mom," Erra whined, "Milyn's here, can I go, can I go? Please! Come on!"

Teiron kept an eye on the maiden as she nodded. "I'll be checking to make sure you actually wash yourself. No somersaults under the water, you understand? I'll come find you when it's time to go." Erra started to skip off and Teiron yelled after her, "And no running!"

The maiden had made it out of the pool and was passing by. Teiron shot a hand out, palm up. No asari worth their eezo would ignore such a greeting, even from a stranger. The maiden took her outstretched hand. Teiron pulled her close, the handshake nothing more than an excuse to get the father of that little baby close. "You take care of her. Both them, do you understand. You're too friggin' young to be a father, but you knew what you were getting yourself into," she whispered.

"It was an accident," the maiden whispered back, "we didn't want...we didn't think..."

"Exactly, you didn't think. She's going to be a beautiful girl. Don't break her mother's heart by playing friends." She shoved her gently, just enough to get the point across. The maiden stared at her, jaw working silently. Approval wasn't what one expected when you had a pure blood child, and the maiden had probably intended to go over and sit with her daughter. Who would suspect them, if they sat together in the bath. Teiron rolled her eyes at the maiden's back. Stupid. Damn kids having babies. She pointedly ignored the fact, as she often did, at how young her lover was to have three grown daughters of her own.

It was nice to not be recognized though. As she moved into the bath proper a few people stared at her, a few louder conversations hushed to whispers, but no one said anything. Liara had told her about the interview she'd done on 'Your Morning', but it had never aired. A few people had talked about it, in the abstract, on various entertainment news shows, but almost entirely the burden had been put on Liara. In fact, most in the media had labeled Teiron and Erra as victims. Lured in by some evil pure blood. It allowed Teiron to laugh a little at the whole situation.

If Liara was evil, and had lured her in, well, she was more than happy to be lured. And used. More than happy. Through the roof about it, if they ever bothered to ask. Which they didn't, and Teiron was fairly glad about that too. They'd laughed about it the last time Liara had called, and Teiron had come to uneasy terms with everything. Erra had had some difficulty with some of her friends at school, their mothers, like Milyn's, at first being rather reluctant when they found out that she and Liara were for all intents and purposes living together. It hadn't taken much, though, before their daughters' whining had overcome their dislike of asari relationships, and they'd lifted the apparent ban on their girls being friends with Erra. Beyond the occasional sideways look Teiron hadn't seen much of anything coming her way though. Liara had said that there were a few less than reputable reporters hanging around her estate on Thessia, and while in asari space she'd been verbally attacked a few times. She'd hired a couple of huntresses, daughters of her mother's acolytes, those that hadn't gone with her when she'd signed up with Saren, apparently, to travel with her inside asari space, and that had drawn off much of the fire.

It could have been a lot worse, in Teiron's opinion. And if the way the maiden she'd spoken to was actively avoiding the matron and her child, it had the potential to get better.

"Hey, T," someone called as she slipped into the larger, warmer pool that dominated the main room of the bath. She looked up and spotted Illira and Kiyett sitting on one of benches that lined the pool with an indigo skinned asari. Her coloring was rare enough that she'd have stood out anyway, but the bright pink markings on her face made her a sight. She was beautiful, if young, a decade or so younger than Illira at least, and the scowl on her face stole much of her beauty when she looked at Teiron.

She made her way over to them, and the third asari rolled her eyes, said something to Kiyett and then left the water. Kiyett was almost unrecognizable with her makeup off. Her markings were so subtle as to be almost nonexistent without the lining she gave them, but her eyes were a shocking blue when they weren't hidden by all the black. Only her piercings were recognizable from a distance.

"Doesn't like me much, I take it," Teiron said, settling down into the space the maiden had just vacated.

"Illy made a pass at her. It was easier for Nillye to use your relationship with Mom as an excuse to leave than it was to admit that Illira's got a thing for her."

"I have no such thing," Illira muttered, "I'm sorry for dragging you into this, I wouldn't have called you over if I'd known Kiyett had forgotten what mom told her."

"When I was like, twelve! Doesn't count anymore, bitch." Kiyett said, chuckling,

"Suck it, whore," Illira shot back just as good-naturedly considering the language, and then the sisters grinned at each other. Teiron sighed. She'd never had much of a relationship with her own sisters, the youngest of which was a hundred and fifty years older than she was, and the constant teasing between Liara's three sometimes exasperated her. They seemed to get along fine for all that though.

"How have things been, anyway, T?" Kiyett asked, handing Teiron a pumice stone. "And can you get the spot between my shoulder blades. I think Illira missed it on purpose. It itches."

Teiron hefted the stone and gently worked it at the scales on Kiyett's back. They were caked with the congealed fibers from her clothes and Illira shrugged when she looked at her. Her smile was telling. "Better. Erra's finally caught on that telling everyone she meets who I'm seeing might not be the smartest thing for her to do. Do not tell my daughter secrets. They just flow out of her."

Illira laughed, "It was cute, for the first year or so. I don't know if her teacher next year will be as accepting."

"Don't remind me," Teiron sighed, patting Kiyett on the shoulder to tell her the job was done before starting to use the stone on herself. "I think when it took almost two weeks for the first RSVP to come in for her 25th that she finally figured out that it's not exactly normal what Liara and I...," she trailed off. It dawned on her suddenly who she was talking to. She was sleeping with their mother. Not anything strange by any stretch of the imagination, but she'd known Illira, at least, for almost two years before Liara had walked back into her life. That knowledge couldn't be easy on the maiden. Not that she seemed upset by it, but Teiron figured it wouldn't hurt to change the subject. "Are you looking forward to Illium, Illira?"

"As much as I can, I guess. I was offered a position in R&D with Cerberus, but Mom has some kind of personal grudge against them. Dad said it was because of you, but I think it has more to do with how they treated Dad. Whatever the reason, within a week of my getting the offer, it was retracted. So, now I'm off to sell stocks." She grimaced.

Teiron briefly wondered why Shepard would have thought that Liara would even care that she'd worked for Aria, and then Cerberus when she took them over, but in an effort to move the conversation away from Liara entirely she asked, "And the maiden that was here? Is she going with you?"

Illira sighed, "I feel like I'm forty again," she muttered. "No. Nillye's parents served on the Normandy. I don't know if it was before or after Dad left, but she overheard that Shepard was our dad and decided to befriend us, some kind of political maneuvering probably. At least until she heard what our mother was up to," she added with a wink. "And I was not hitting on her," she said to Kiyett, who smiled rather evilly at her sister.

"Not that it would matter if you were," they said together a beat later.

"Mom's back on the station, isn't she?" Kiyett asked suddenly.

"She's supposed to be, but I haven't seen her, why?"

Kiyett nodded across the pool where Erra and Milyn were making their slow way over to them. "Because I have a feeling you're going to be alone tonight if she's not. Those two are attached at the hip aren't they?"

"There's four of them, actually. Thankfully, the other two have mother's that are slightly more strict that Milyn's, or I, am. I don't think I could handle all four of them at the same time on a regular basis."

"I'll give mom a call, expect her tonight, huh?" Kiyett said, getting out of the pool with a knowing leer.

"Is she always like that?" Teiron asked Illira once she was gone.

"That was her being polite, actually. So, when's the wedding?" she said getting out of the pool as the girls joined them.

Teiron choked on air, making it difficult for her to agree when Erra asked to spend the night at Milyn's. Illira was gone before she caught her breath, and completely missed the thoughtful glare that Teiron sent her way.


	21. Chapter 20

_The sun on Rannoch sat low on the Horizon casting long shadows across the arid landscape. On the plateau beneath them a group of geth worked beside a handful of nervous looking quarians to move the wreckage of a downed fighter. Shepard sat with Tali, her legs dangling over the edge of the cliff. Liara stood in the shade, watching as they stood up and embraced. Tali turned, her mask off, and Liara smiled at her. Tali had been going without her mask, like many other quarians, for short periods ever since the Reaper had been killed. Liara thought their delicate features should surprise her, but they did not. Her mother had told her stories of the quarians, before they'd needed their suits. Of their beauty, their grace. Benezia's father had been quarian, the son of the quarian ambassador. He'd been a dancer, much lauded by his people, and the earliest bedtime stories that Liara could remember were of her mother sitting on the side of her bed and deflecting stories of who Liara's father was with stories of her childhood with her own. Tali had a gracefulness about her face that reminded Liara of those stories, and she wondered, in an abstract way, if it was possible that Tali was related to her grandfather. She'd never been able to figure out how to ask, quarian families weren't the linear paths that they had once been, family names becoming distorted over the last three centuries._

_ Tali came up to her, hugged her, then joined her people and the geth behind them. Liara moved to stand beside Shepard, leaning against her, her arm sliding around the human's waist. She let her gaze wander over the woman beside her then gazed out at the horizon._

_ "It's beautiful," she said, looking out at the scenery. _

_ "Yeah, it is," Shepard said, watching as a young quarian in a suit that barely fit climbed up the back of a geth Prime. The child's parents looked on nervously, wringing their hands and occasionally reaching out for the child, but they did not stop him._

_ Liara followed her gaze and chuckled. "I guess this is what we are fighting for," she said, "A ray of light in a dark galaxy. This is something the Reapers could not destroy."_

_ Shepard nodded distractedly. Her eyes followed the boy as he settled himself on the Prime's shoulders and lifted his arms in triumph. "Let's have a baby."_

Liara started, looking into Shepard's eyes, "What?" The memory of the last time Shepard had surprised her so thoroughly faded as Shepard brought her hand to her lips, pressing a soft kiss to the backs of her fingers. In her other hand she held a delicate silver bracelet. It was the sort of thing human jewelers made in echo of asari bonding bracelets, pre-made with precious metals that had no significance to the parties involved other than their aesthetics. They'd become popular even among the asari in recent years, often being more delicately crafted then their original counterparts. Liara couldn't deny that it was beautiful, and the fact that Shepard had taken the time to pick it out, had circumvented every spy camera Liara had at her disposal to keep it a secret made it as precious as one they might have picked together. It was engraved but Liara couldn't read what it said.

"Marry me, Liara. I'm an idiot, I'll be the first to admit it. But I'm going to try to do better than my other self, from what you told me, I don't like who I was. I do, though, I want to spend forever with you. I want to argue about the bills and over what groceries to buy, and I want to wake up beside you every day for the rest of my life. I want to read the paper with you in the morning, and curl up with you at night.

"I want fight and make love and be completely boring together. I want to know you so well I forget you aren't me. Even when you aren't crawling around in my head. I want to piss you off because I left my dirty socks on the floor again. I want you to yell at me because I forgot to do the dishes.

"I want to make you breakfast. I want to tell you that yes, that dress makes you look fat, even when it doesn't just so you'll glare at me and then laugh. I want to be your wife, Liara T'Soni.

"If you'll let me."

Liara worked her jaw, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say. Shepard's first proposal had been the night they had first attempted to conceive. It had gone something like, "So, I just knocked you up? You don't know yet? Oh, well. We should get married." This, this was something completely different.

"Liara?" Shepard whispered, taking a half step back. They were standing outside a brightly lit restaurant in New York. It was mid-December and the city was lit up for the upcoming human holiday. The ground was covered in slush, dirty with the passing of thousands of people. It darkened the street, and Liara remembered wishing it would snow when they'd set out for dinner earlier. They had come to visit Shepard's mother, but the elder Shepard had been called back to duty. Liara was certain that her sudden return to her ship had more to do with finding out Liara would be joining her daughter and less with any important mission she might have had.

Shepard's face fell, her hands gripping Liara's once, softly before falling to her sides as Liara still didn't answer her.

Liara wanted to speak, she wanted to scream yes, of course. She wanted to scream it to the heavens, let the entire galaxy know. The words refused to form, they wouldn't work their way out of her throat and Shepard was looking more and more like the end of the world had come. Shepard smiled, weakly, went to shove her hands, bracelet and all, into her pockets. Liara stopped her, control of her body returning to her in a sudden flash. She grabbed Shepard's wrist just as the bracelet was about to disappear into the confines of the human's coat.

"Yes," she whispered, letting her fingers trail down Shepard's hand and extracting the circle of metal from her fingers. She went to slip it over her right wrist, then stopped, and slipped it over her left instead. That was the human custom wasn't it? The jewelry given in promise was worn on the same arm as that given in commitment. "Dear Goddess, yes." She threw herself into Shepard's arms, then, hugging her so tight that for a second she was afraid Shepard would have difficulty breathing.

But then Shepard was laughing, and swinging her through the air. Their breath fogged as they closed in to kiss, both smiling so widely they feared their faces would break. Passerby's stopped, watched. An asari was strange enough, but one being twirled like a dancer through the cold December air was unheard of. Neither noticed the slowing of the holiday shoppers, though, as they drank each other in. They didn't notice the children, pointing at them. They didn't notice the hushed whispers, or the knowing smiles. The elderly couple that, watching them, clasped hands, the woman leaning into her husband, both remembering the day, years before when he had given her the diamond ring she still wore.

They stood in each others arms, silently, foreheads pressed together as it began to snow.

* * *

Teiron sidestepped around the pile of wrapping paper, picking up the empty plates and cups that had been spread around the banquet hall. She dropped it all into the large, black waste bag that some thoughtful person had tied to the back of a chair. Probably Liara, she was always thinking about things like that. Erra's twenty-fifth birthday party was winding down, finally. Teiron felt drawn out, exhausted. The day had gone by in a rush, but watching Erra now, showing off her presents to the group of her closest friends was worth it all. She spotted Liara picking up the remains of a party game that had been abandoned for the girls to go play with the holographic dance coach Cerra had bought Erra. She slipped up behind her, unnoticed, and wrapped her arms around her waist. She felt Liara stiffen for a second, and then relax into her embrace. She settled her chin onto her shoulder.

"Thank you," she said, pressing a quick kiss to Liara's jaw.

"For what?" Liara asked, letting her weight rest in Teiron's arms.

"You have to ask? I couldn't have done this without you, I think I'd have had a nervous breakdown about two seconds after everyone got here. Tyrants, the lot of them."

"They're prepubescent children!" Liara laughed.

"Still. Who's idea was it to give them sugar again?"

"Yours," Liara said, turning and planting a chaste kiss on Teiron's lips. "I did warn you."

Asari didn't celebrate yearly birthdays, the day remarked only by the closest of friends and family. Small gifts might be given, but it was nothing like the rituals that many of the shorter species had around the day of birth. The salarians were by far the worst, entire clutches often getting together every year in grand celebrations. At most, they had one when a daughter reached two, and occasionally another at around ten. Both were usually fairly subdued, but involving more distant friends and family. The twenty-fifth birthday was the last that was celebrated with any large party on the day of birth, the next large celebration coming when a child officially began her maidenhood. For all that though, the twenty-fifth birthday was probably the most important in asari culture.

Liara had told her once that it was because in their distant past, if a child reached their twenty-fifth year it was unlikely that they would then die from any of the common childhood illnesses that had plagued the asari before modern medicine. She had talked at length about the significance, and the various artifacts she found during her undergraduate days that displayed the different ways cultures had honored their children for reaching their first quarter century. Teiron hadn't been listening, Liara had been standing naked in front of the mirror in the bedroom at the time, and her mind hadn't really been on Erra's upcoming birthday. She'd wondered, at the time, if that made her a bad parent, but had decided that she was okay with that if it did.

"Yes, I suppose you did," Teiron sighed, which became more of an annoyed moaned when she saw the matron that was coming around the table towards them.

Milyn's mother had come to terms with her and Liara. It probably had a lot to do with her bondmate, but Teiron didn't really care why she'd suddenly become one of their greatest supporters, she was just grateful that she was. Of Erra's other two friends, Cerra's mother had been completely uninterested one way or the other, but was almost overly strict with her daughter, so even if she'd been completely against them it wouldn't have made much difference. Sephora's mother, Naivill, on the other hand, was everything Teiron hated about her species. She was nearly 700 years old, had six children from six different fathers, and had apparently never met an asari she liked, even to just grab a cup of coffee with. This included her own daughters.

She was so powerfully against asari mating with other asari that she'd even gone so far as to suggest that they should not mate with human women either, their body types being too similar. It would, she had argued, draw their young, impressionable, maidens into looking to the familiar for potential bondmates. And that was simply unacceptable.

Liara turned, saw her coming and did her best to hide her smile. She kissed Teiron again, and squeezed her hand. "I'm going to run the trash to the compactor, don't want the keepers to be overworked," she whispered, her smile finally breaking through.

"No, don't leave me. Liara, love, please," she pleaded, only half jokingly. Liara nodded politely to Naivill, smiled widely at the frown that was sent her way, and began gathering up all the paper wrapping and plates. Teiron forced a smile as Liara walked away and turned to elder asari. "Naivill."

"Teiron. Just going to flaunt your disgusting habits to everyone are you?"

"I was thinking about dragging her into the corner and melding with her when she gets back, but you know, I figured kissing her would rile you up more."

Naivill huffed, crossing her arms and scanning the half-dozen children and their parents that were still there. There had been nearly two dozen children here at the start, mostly humans half Erra's age, though you wouldn't know it from looking, but the party was drawing to a slow close and now only Erra's little posse of asari and a couple of stragglers waiting for their parents to pick them up remained. "I'm amazed so many showed up."

"I've found you are the only one so desperately interested in what I do in private, in my bedroom, that you feel the need to make a big deal about it. Are you jealous? Liara's the jealous type, I'd be careful," Teiron said, pushing down the nervous flutter than centered in her stomach. Liara was much better at deflecting unwanted attention, and Teiron was afraid that if Naivill kept pressing she'd just end up throwing up on the elder woman's shoes.

Naivill didn't speak, glaring daggers at Teiron. Teiron tried to keep her smile light, but her stomach was churning. If it hadn't been Erra's birthday, she was fairly certain she'd have simply decked the annoying matron. This was Erra's day though, and having her friend's mother's nose start gushing blood, while memorable, was probably not how the child wanted to remember during her birthday party. One of the stragglers came up, just as Teiron was about to ask why the older woman was still standing there if she made her so uncomfortable, thanking her for the party and then leaving with her parents.

Teiron watched Liara slip back into the banquet hall as they child left, and moments later the other left as well. Erra waved at Liara, who made her way over to her. The three remaining girls were supposed to be staying the night, though Teiron had a feeling that was what Naivill had really come over to speak about. She probably didn't want her daughter staying at their place.

Erra was showing off some of the features of her omni-tool, how the SSH display could change colors, and the various games she'd already downloaded to it. Teiron had argued, fruitlessly, against Liara buying her that. It hadn't been cheap, but Liara had insisted. Teiron felt a warm buzz as she remembered the explanation Liara had given her. It's a T'Soni tradition, she's said, to be given your first real omni-tool on your twenty-fifth birthday. It was just child's tool, with heavy restrictions on calls and extranet access, but Erra had never been so excited. And Teiron hadn't been quite so happy as when she heard Liara saying that Erra had earned a status next to her own three daughters. Thinking about it made the fact that Naivill was still glaring at her bearable.

"Well, I can see why you're so interested anyway," Naivill sneered, as she too watched Erra show off her new gadget, "I suppose you can overlook anything for enough money."

Teiron saw Liara twitch slightly, as if she had heard, and ground her teeth. Did people really think that? It was bad enough that Liara was harassed on Thessia for having taken her for a lover, but for them to think that Teiron was in it for her money...the thought made her ill.

"I'd fuck her just the same if she didn't have a single credit," Teiron hissed, her anger boiling, "For Athame's sake, does it really matter? I don't care how much money she has, I don't care that she's fucking blue. I love her, and you can butt the fuck out." She growled, her teeth grinding. She'd kept her voice low, and she didn't think anyone had heard her. For that, once she'd stormed a few feet away and her anger began to dissipate, she was grateful. Goddess, she couldn't imagine what would have happened if she'd said that loud enough for the entire room to hear.

She kept her stride purposeful, even when the moment had ended and all she wanted was to slink away, and began packing up Erra's other gifts. She berated herself for letting her temper get the better of her. There as no way that Sephora would be allowed to come over now, and Erra would probably never forgive her when she found out. She hung her head, fought past the urge to cry or scream or otherwise turn the spectacle she'd avoided into something even worse. Still, she felt good for having said it, even if she was certain that it would just make all their lives more difficult. The look on Naivill's face had been worth it, the color draining, the angry purse to her lips. Teiron allowed herself to smile, which widened when she felt someone step up behind her. Warm arms circled her middle, and she and Liara were in the same pose they'd been before, their positions reversed.

"I love you," Liara whispered.

"I love you, too," Teiron said questioningly. It wasn't something they often said to each other, at least not as earnestly as Liara had. Oh, certainly they'd had their moments, standing in the kitchen or sitting on the couch where they were teeth achingly sweet about confessing it. And the 'I love you more' wars they had were enough to make Erra throw up her arms in disgust and leave the room. All of that, though, was done almost in jest. Not that the sentiment wasn't meant, but neither felt the need to confess that they loved the other; it was simply a given.

"Thank you," Liara said against her crest. She hadn't stepped all the way against Teiron's back, a hands breath separating them.

"For what?"

"What you said. I already knew it, but it's nice to know anyway."

"You heard that?" Teiron asked, heart sinking. If she had, then so had everyone else. She'd thought she'd been so quiet.

"I might have been eaves dropping with the use of Erra's new omni-tool. Remind me to grab mine from the table before we leave. You weren't speaking loud." Teiron hadn't seen it on the table, but that didn't mean much. She smiled, relaxing.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, "Erra's probably pissed."

"Not at all. Her exact phrase was 'You go, Mom'. She gave me permission to do this." She pressed a hand on Teiron's shoulder, urging her to turn.

Erra and her friends, including Sephora, were watching from across the banquet hall. Naivill had stormed out, leaving her daughter behind. Teiron would learn later that she'd been told off, rather rudely, by Erra. It earned her daughter a hug and dessert before dinner the night Teiron was told. The other parents were also heading for the door. Teiron scanned the room once, taking it all in, before letting her eyes land on Liara's. They were smiling, matching the nervous grin. It had been a long time since Teiron had seen that particular smile, and it shocked her a little to realize she had missed it. Liara took a step back, reaching into her pocket once all the other adults were out of the room. Out of the corner of her eye Teiron saw her daughter sit up straighter and whisper to her friends.

"Teiron Riela," Liara said, her voice little more than a whisper, "if you are willing, I would bind my soul to yours." Teiron's eyes flew to Liara's hand, where she held a long, thin box. Teiron took it from her, and slipped the lid off. Inside was a bonding bracelet. Not the metal circlets that aliens gave, thinking its meaning was the same, but rather a woven band of ribbons. One was white, to show one of the partners was a widow, another almost the exact shade of Liara's skin. The third, close enough to Teiron's own skin color that when she picked it up out of the box and laid it across her right wrist the ribbon seemed to disappear. They would be bound with these ribbons, if she accepted Liara's proposal, as if there was any question. "I know this isn't exactly the most romantic moment to propose, but after urging you on Erra told me I needed to get my act together and, I quote 'Marry my frigging' mom already'. I didn't want to disappoint on her birthday."

Teiron laughed, and held her wrist up, the ends of the woven ribbons dangling off the sides. "When the sky is right, my soul is yours," Teiron said, then rolled her eyes. Goddess, while the appropriate line considering how Liara had asked, it sounded like something out of a bad romance vid. "It...it might have just been the perfect moment, romantic or not. Erra's been asking when she can finally start calling you 'Dad'," she continued, as Liara tied the bracelet to her wrist. She watched Liara's eyes go wide, and her smile spread.

"I kind of like the sound of that," she murmured, before leaning in and kissing her softly.

"Me too. Goddess, I, I don't even know what to say."

"That was what I was going for," Liara said, and with a quick look over her shoulder at the group of girls, kissed Teiron again, longer and deeper, her arms circling around Teiron's waist and pulling her close.

One of Erra's friends let out a loud cat call, and they broke apart, laughing. "We can pick that up once we get them situated and asleep. Goddess, I love you."

Liara grinned, kissing the side of her mouth before stepping away. "I love too. Now come on, before they come over here and start asking inapropriate questions."

They gathered their things, and Erra and her friends attempted to try to ride one of the keepers that were coming in to finish cleaning before Liara admonished them. Teiron didn't notice. She didn't really care. She could barely keep her eyes off the ribbons on her wrist long enough to keep from walking into the wall.


	22. Chapter 21

Liara paced restlessly, crossing from one end of the common room to the other. Illira kept glancing at her from her spot on the floor where she was working on her homework. Allison was asleep on the sofa; she'd had a rough day, the first in a very long time. She had been running a mild fever earlier in the day, but by the time Illira had gotten home from school it had broken and she'd been nothing more than tired. Shepard was supposed to have been home hours ago. She'd called, said she'd been held up by the ambassador and would be home as soon as she could. That didn't ease Liara's mind any. It wasn't that she was worried about Shepard's reaction. She knew Shepard would be okay with it. She was almost certain Shepard would be okay with it. There was very little doubt in her mind that Shepard would be okay with it. She was terrified that Shepard wouldn't be okay with it.

She heard Shepard's car land out front and with a quick glance at her daughters she raced out of the house and came to a stop on the gravel drive. The rocks dug into the bottoms of her feet, and she focused on that over the churning in her stomach.

"Miss me that much?" Shepard grinned, kissing her cheek quickly before sliding an arm around her waist and turning to the house. She was caught up short when Liara didn't follow her. It wasn't exactly cold outside, Thessian winters being fairly mild, but Liara was barefoot and was hardly dressed for the nip in the air. "Hey, something wrong?"

"I...I have to...do you remember a couple of weeks ago? When my father took the girls for the weekend?"

"Do I?" Shepard asked with a leer, turning and pulling Liara close. "Yes, I do. But I think it would be better if we finished this in the house. The ground's a bit cold out here."

"That's...not what I meant. Shepard-"

"Inside, Liara," Shepard laughed, "I don't need you catching a cold."

"It's important."

"And it will be just as important inside, where it's warm." She ushered Liara inside despite her protests, and led her down the hall to her office. It was far enough away from the common room that the children wouldn't be able to hear them, and was one of the few rooms in the house that had a door. "Now, what is so important that you forgot to even put your shoes on?" Shepard dropped her bag on the table and then threw herself into her desk chair.

"You remember that weekend?"

"I think we established that. I have very fond memories of what we did that weekend."

Liara sighed, and began pacing. Her stomach was a storm; her back ached. She looked into Shepard's eyes, trying to read a reaction to the news she hadn't yet confessed in them. They looked back at her, full of love, a little amusement, and the undertone of lust that two children and almost twenty years had yet to dampen. But the answer she was looking for wasn't there. She hadn't really expected it to be.

"You remember, um, what happened and I said it wasn't a big deal?" She dropped her eyes, suddenly not wanting to see Shepard's reaction.

"You mean, when you...?" Liara nodded, never lifting her eyes. "You said that the chances were slim."

"Slim, but not impossible. There is a greater than ninety perfect chance now that I'm pregnant." She rubbed the back of her neck, waiting for Shepard to say something, one way or another. The silence stretched. Though it was probably on a few seconds, it felt like hours to Liara.

"Are you, I mean, after Allison the doctors said that it might not be safe for you to...are you okay?"

"Yes, so far I'm fine. Is this okay?" She whispered the last, eyes fluttering shut as she waited for Shepard to not want this baby. It was silly, she knew, Shepard had always wanted a big family, but after Allison they had agreed on not having any more. It wasn't safe, for Liara or the child. They hadn't wanted this, and Liara waited for Shepard to say it.

"Okay? This is amazing!" Shepard laughed, jumping out of the chair and swinging Liara into her arms. Liara smiled, burying her face in Shepard's neck. "I'm gonna be a dad again."

"Maybe. It'll still be another week before we know for sure."

"Right, I know that. Have you told the girls? We're going to have to get the nursery ready again. And we should probably set up the room down here, those stairs won't be good for you." She set Liara down, knelt and kissed her stomach. "Hello, baby, I'm your daddy. And going into this the third time, that isn't nearly as strange as it was with your big sisters." She stood, kissing Liara; her forehead, the tip of her nose. She brushed her lips lightly against Liara's, but pulled back as Liara attempted to deepen the kiss. "Right, need to get pantry pregnant asari ready. You, go sit down. Go, sit."

Liara let herself be led back to the common room where she was unceremoniously sat into a large chair beside the sofa where Allison was asleep. She watched Shepard hurry into the kitchen, murmuring to herself.

"Everything okay with Dad?" Illira asked, looking up from the datapad she was working on.

"She's just a little over excited, sweetheart. Give her a couple of hours and she'll be back to normal." At least, Liara hoped so. They had spent two years trying to get pregnant with Allison, and when it had finally happened they had both been so excited, and Shepard had still been traveling most of the year, so that Liara couldn't really remember how long it had taken before the human woman had become herself once again.

"What happened?"

"Nothing yet. Finish your homework. I'm going to go see if your father wants to go out for dinner tonight."

"Really? Cool." Illira turned back to her homework and Liara stood, waited a second for Shepard to suddenly, psychically, know and yell at her, then made her way to the kitchen. Shepard turned away from the pantry when she heard Liara enter, and her smile was more than enough to ease any outlying fears that Liara had over her unexpected pregnancy.

* * *

The music pounded, and Teiron could feel the bass thumping in her heart. She felt Liara stiffen, and grinned. Most asari found the heavy bass, the almost tribal beat to the music that they played in this dingy corner bar soothing, and Teiron did find that the tension in her shoulders from the long day she'd had at work was easing. Liara, Teiron had discovered, seemed to enjoy quarian operas and a human composer named Beethoven, which Teiron's digging had left her fairly confused about. She wasn't sure if Liara's prized music was written by a human in strange clothing or a large fuzzy dog that apparently gave booze to people trapped in snowstorms at some point in humanities past. Typical asari music was about as far from what Liara liked as it was possible to get without devolving into just noise. Liara had a tendency to call this mix of asari traditional music and human rock n' roll something akin to noise, though.

It probably didn't help that a moment after they arrived, Kiyett's voice joined in the heavy beat and churning guitar. The vocals, to most of the aliens in the bar, were probably a bittersweet story of young love, and the mental ache that separation brings. To an asari, it bordered on lewd.

"Well, she has a set of pipes," Teiron laughed, leading Liara over to an empty table near the back of the room. Erra was staying at Milyn's for the entire weekend, and Liara had, with whatever leverage she had with Horus, gotten Teiron the entire weekend off. They were taking the weekend for themselves in honor of their engagement, which was now in its fourth month, or its thirteenth week, or its ninety-fourth day, or its 1884th hour, or its 188467th minute, or its- Teiron checked the chronometer on her omni- 18846752nd second. Not that she was keeping track, or anything.

"I just wish she'd use them for something productive," Liara sighed, waving a waitress over and ordering their drinks. Whiskey, as always, for Liara when she could get it, and a sweet Thessian liquor for Teiron.

"And being the lead engineer on the largest space station in the galaxy isn't being productive?" Teiron teased.

"Goddess, you sound like her father," Liara muttered, glaring. "Why am I doing this to myself?" she asked with a grin.

"Because you love me," Teiron answered, her voice lilting as she leaned across the table and stole a quick kiss. It was dark enough, and enough attention was focused on the stage that she didn't feel terribly self-conscious about it. She did take a quick glance around to make sure the media hadn't followed them here. They'd backed off months ago, but Teiron still felt the need to look every time they did anything even remotely romantic in public.

"Yes, I do. I sometimes wonder why," Liara said with a grin, "but I do."

"Good. Now, watch your daughter. She enjoys this, and at least she still has her clothes on."

Liara glared at her a moment before turning her attention to the stage. Teiron smirked at the way Kiyett seemed to make love to the microphone stand, the way she spun across the stage. She was every bit the typical asari, and it amused Teiron to no end how different she was from not just her mother, but her sisters as well.

"I did not teach her to dance like that," Liara told her drink, and Teiron bit back a laugh, drawing the attention of a few people around her.

Kiyett stepped away from the mic, and began working the crowd. And she could work it. The noise levels from them had reached a level where it wasn't possible to hear the music anymore. Teiron could feel the beat of the drums, the low bass, but the melody and Kiyett's vocals were swallowed by the crowd. The younger asari was eating it up though. Smiling, she jumped off the stage and walked through the mass of people who were dancing in front of it. She danced briefly with a turian that looked a bit like he would faint during the guitar solo, and moved sinuously through the crowd until she was standing in front of their table as the song came to a close.

She raised a hand and the guitarist stepped up to the mic, just as Kiyett turned off the one connected to her omnitool. On stage the other asari had begun singing a soft ballad and the crowd began to disperse. Kiyett watched them a moment then rolled her eyes and slipped into the vacant chair at their table.

"Seriously, she chooses that? Of all the craptastic shit that's out there, and she sings_ that._ To this crowd. Goddess, I swear I'm the only one with a brain in the band. So, how's things, mom? We gonna have to move up the wedding?" She winked at Teiron, who did her best to glare at her and not blush. She wasn't sure if she succeeded, but it was dark enough that she didn't think Liara's daughter noticed.

"Kay, I can still ground you." Liara growled, and Kiyett laughed.

"What? I'm excited that hopefully, in the next two to four years I will no longer be the youngest. I mean, at worst I get Erra right." She grinned, and Teiron shook her head. In the last three years the only person Erra idolized more than Liara was Kiyett. She was just glad she hadn't picked up the maiden's sense of fashion, or lack there of if the torn clothes she was wearing were any indication.

"You can stop that train of thought right where it started Kiyett Shepard. I'm not quite the impressionable maiden I was when your father knocked me up."

"Don't get me wrong, mom, I'm sure dad played a part, but you know, last I checked, asari reproduction doesn't work that way," she laughed, watching as Liara groaned and lowered her head into her hands, "I'm pretty sure we do all the work."

"Goddess," Liara breathed, shaking her head, "I don't know where you get it. I don't."

"Poppi. Definitely Poppi. I gotta split, or we're going to lose the crowd completely. You guys want tacos when I'm done here? Human place around the corner, makes these killer chicken tacos. Almost as good as Kari's, but without the little bits of eezo sprinkled in. Unless you know, mom, one or both of you need a little extra eezo in your diet?"

She was gone a moment later and didn't catch Liara's "We're not even bonded yet, will this never end?"

"You love every minute of it, and you know it." Teiron said, drowning her drink in a single swallow.

"You will feel that in the morning," Liara chastised as Teiron ordered another drink, "and it was cute, the first four hundred thousand times. I mean honestly, they bug me about our getting engaged, and the moment we do, they start asking about siblings?" Liara groaned

"You've been keeping count?"

"I have a VI for that." She scooted her chair over, Teiron slipped an arm around her shoulders, and Liara tucked herself against her side.

They sat in silence for a moment. Teiron finished her second drink, then turned to Liara, "Have you thought about it?"

"About what?" She was still nursing her first, wincing in time with every move her daughter made on stage.

"You know. A baby. With, um, with me." She pulled her arm away from Liara's shoulders, and frowned when she realized that her glass was empty. "Forget it."

"Teiron, we're not even getting married for twenty months. But, is that something you want? You know what I am."

"Beautiful? Amazing? Brilliant? After all this, everything we've been through, that's where you go to?"

"Loving you is completely different than tempting fate by having a baby. Could you live with yourself if we brought...if our baby was...Goddess. I know the science, I know the risk is minimal, but I can't imagine what I would do. But, yes, I've thought about it. More than I should have considering what I went through raising mine." Liara wiped tears from her eyes and turned in the chair. Teiron felt her breath catch; there was so much desolation in her eyes. So much sorrow. It hurt to look at her. "I like to think of what you'd look like carrying my baby," she said with a smile, the first tear falling.

"Hey, hey. Liara, don't start crying. Please. It's all these damn matron hormones and the wedding. It's not, we don't have, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No," Liara whispered, wiping the tears away again, "don't. Benezia did what she could, but children are not nice. I'd hate to put my daughter through that."

"So much for our evening," Teiron murmured, her eyes burning with unshed tears. She hadn't even considered that Liara's own parentage would affect the chance of their daughter displaying the Ardat-Yakshi gene. It was a terrifying thought, that they would have to send their daughter away or have her taken by the Justicars. She had wanted to have an amusing discussion about Erra adapting to not being the center of attention, and instead the worst fears of every asari were going through her head. Goddess, but she needed to learn to keep her mouth shut.

"There's still those tacos," Liara laughed, finishing her drink and motioning for another one. "And I for one plan on not having a single memory between now and when I wake up beside you tomorrow. We might have actually even made it to the bed."

Teiron laughed with her, but it felt forced. "I suppose that sounds like a pretty good night then, what do you think?"

"I like it. And Teiron?"

"Hmm?" Liara tucked her head back into the crux of Teiron's arm, and sighed contentedly as she felt the weight of it settle on her shoulders. Teiron looked down at her; the sad smile that still graced her lips, the distant look in her eyes and wished she could take the last few minutes back.

"Yes, I think we should have a baby. Just not right now. I don't know if Erra could handle not having your undivided attention whenever she wanted it."

Teiron smiled and kissed the top of her crest, hugging her close. "You're probably right. And she can be one hell of a bitch when she puts her mind to it."

Liara slapped her leg, and shook her head. "You shouldn't talk about your daughter like that."

"Says the woman who threatened to ground her two hundred year old daughter. Anyway, you know I'm right."

"My lips are sealed. I still think we should reserve the hanging gardens in Nos Astra, by the way. It's a bit of a longer wait, but it's worth it. You remember when you took me there?"

"I do. It was...just before I left."

"Mmn, yeah. I remember thinking that it would be the most beautiful place to be married. And that the foliage set off your eyes. They were completely independent thoughts at the time, of course."

Teiron smiled. "Of course they were. Fine, on one condition."

She felt Liara stiffen slightly, could almost hear her mind working through all the possible things she could ask of her. "Okay, what?" Liara finally asked.

"Kiyett plays the reception," Teiron answered.

"Oh Goddess no. You can't be serious."

"She's good. You said yourself she should find a better use for her talent. I think a traditional asari bonding chant would classify, don't you?"

Liara grimaced and shook her head. "That's just asking for trouble, you know that, right?"

"It'll be wonderful."

Teiron grinned in triumph as Liara reluctantly agreed. It was one less thing for them to worry about in what Teiron thought was Liara's over planning; and Kiyett did have a beautiful voice. She knew Liara's bonding to Shepard had been almost rushed. The media had gotten wind of it quickly, and Liara had told her that rather than suffer through their constant presence, they had pushed up the date of their wedding. And though the entire affair had been a huge spectacle, Liara admitted that it had been planned with barely three months notice.

Two years, almost to the day, later Illira had been born and the media frenzy had started up again. Teiron hoped to avoid that. The media frenzy anyway. She wasn't entirely sure she'd be against having a baby so soon after they were married, but that wasn't something they had to worry about today.

Today she just had to worry about Liara killing the turian Kiyett had been dancing with earlier for inappropriate behavior towards her daughter.

**A quick thank you to Theodur for finding the information on galactic standard time. And whoever removed it from the wiki should be ashamed :)**


	23. Chapter 22

"This isn't a good idea," Liara sighed, sliding a hand over her stomach. At barely five months along she didn't show under her clothes, but she knew her daughter grew there. She checked her reflection in the blue water of the fish tank, and grinned as she saw Shepard sneaking up behind her.

"Oh, no? What's so bad about it? She was perfectly civil at the wedding," Shepard said, wrapping warm, strong arms around her waist and pressing a fleeting kiss on the back of her neck.

"She still doesn't like me," Liara murmured, leaning back against Shepard's chest.

"And when did you start caring?" Shepard laughed.

Liara huffed, spinning in her arms. "I don't." She looked up into Shepard's eyes. "But stress isn't good for the baby." It was a low blow, she knew, but she had a feeling it would work.

Or not. "Oh hush, my mother isn't stressful," she laughed.

Another tactic then. This one was much less likely work, but between the pregnancy hormones and the knowledge of what had happened the last time she'd informed the elder Shepard of having the Commander's baby, she was willing to try anything. She pressed herself more fully against Shepard, her hands playing gently over the waistband of the human's pants. Her fingers danced, and she smiled as she watched Shepard's eyes dilate.

"We could just close the door," she whispered suggestively, slipping a hand under Shepard's shirt and letting her fingers play along the skin of Shepard's stomach, "pretend we weren't here. It would just be a matter of being very, very quiet. I'm sure I can pull it off, if I have to."

"What has gotten into you, Liara?" Shepard chuckled, removing the hand from her abdomen. "Not that I dislike the change, but is my mother walking in on that better than telling her that she's about to be a grandmother."

"Maybe," Liara grumbled then sighed and leaned her head on Shepard's shoulder.

"She'll be ecstatic. She's been begging me for grandchildren since I turned 25." Shepard lifted Liara's head with a finger and kissed her softly.

"I had hoped being married would stop all this nonsense," a cold voice came from the doorway just as Liara had tangled her fingers in Shepard's hair, in yet another vain attempt at canceling this meeting.

"You won't consider it such nonsense in a moment, mom," Shepard said, pulling just far enough away from Liara to look at the woman who had given her life. "We have some wonderful news." Shepard guided Liara to the sofa, sat down and pulled her into her lap.

"I figured as much when you suddenly showed up by my ship and demanded that I come visit. I don't see why you couldn't have just sent me a message." Hannah glared at them both, clearly fighting the distaste she felt at the way the two fit together.

"These things shouldn't be left to impersonal messages. This is," Shepard grinned and pressed a warm kiss on Liara's cheek, "You are going to be so happy."

"Of course I am, sweetheart. Just tell me why I'm here, won't you?"

With the sort of giddy enthusiasm that is generally reserved for children with a new toy, Shepard said, "We're having a baby!"

The reaction the grandmother-to-be had was about what Liara had expected. It wasn't the sudden rush of joy that Shepard had been certain would happen. There was a small crinkling around the eyes, a small purse to the lips, and a slow, solemn nod.

"I see," Hannah said slowly, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, considering the state I normally find the two of you in."

"Mother, stop it. You are going to be a grandmother. I'm going to be a mo- father!" She tugged Liara closer to her, and Liara leaned back without protest. She'd been expecting this, and while it wasn't the heated rush of emotion that had escaped the woman before, it was close enough considering this time her daughter was very much alive.

"You're right," Hannah said with a sigh, "I am...happy...for you. If your, I mean, if you need anything Liara...," She didn't finish the sentence, but Shepard seemed appeased, even if Liara knew she'd never ask her mother-in-law for advice.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Shepard grinned a few hours later once her mother was gone.

"No, I suppose it could have been much worse," Liara conceded. She did have to admit that at the very least Hannah was trying. Failing, certainly, but trying.

"Exactly. And no stress right? Baby's perfectly a-OK." She knelt, kissing Liara's stomach and then nuzzling it with her nose.

"No, no stress." She reached down and pulled Shepard back up to her feet. "But I believe your mother interrupted me earlier, and I find that very rude of her." Not to mention the subtle was she'd undermined everything Liara had said all evening. But that didn't matter, not really, Liara thought as she pulled Shepard toward the bed. She had Shepard. They were having a baby, and Hannah Shepard would just have to deal with it.

* * *

"This isn't a good idea," Teiron whispered as the transport orbited above the planet Sanves awaiting landing clearance for the shuttles, "We can take Erra to the capital, spend a couple of days hiking the forests, and then just tell them we never made it. I'm sure it can't be that hard to fake a crash, right?" Her hands bunched nervously on her pants as she glanced out the porthole at the green bands that circled the planet below.

"You want them at the wedding, don't you?" Liara asked, taking her hand and entwining their fingers before Teiron could wear a hole in her knee.

"I'm beginning to think I should reconsider that desire, now that I think about it." Teiron glanced down at their clasped hands then scanned the crowded transport nervously. They'd been recognized almost immediately, and there had been a few tense moments, but it had eventually been broken up. She turned and looked over her shoulder to smile weakly at the three commandos that were sitting behind them. Having a contingent of bodyguards was what it meant to be T'Soni, apparently, or at least to be marrying one, and while their presence had stopped the insults and veiled (and not so veiled) threats, Teiron wasn't entirely sure she enjoyed having them around.

She knew Liara didn't like it either, but she put up with them. Two of the three had mothers that had once watched a young Liara while she traveled with her mother, but Teiron hadn't been able to squeeze any of the stories she knew their mothers must have told them about the rambunctious child she knew Liara had once been out of them. Having them around, while not something she was used to, was something Liara at least understood. Erra had taken it in stride, and was currently passed out on the lap of the fourth and final guard, who at least didn't seem all that upset that the 26-year-old had decided to use her as a pillow. Teiron didn't know why she found their presence so annoying, they stayed out of the way, hadn't bothered them the entire trip, and seemed friendly enough. She supposed it was the fact that they needed them, more than the women themselves, that bothered her.

She had known that Liara had been traveling with them over the last few months, whenever she left the Citadel, for basic security since the news had broken. Their engagement had yet to be leaked to the media, and Teiron had hoped that this trip would allow them to outrun the news. Now that she was here though, she wasn't entirely sure that it was the good idea it had been when she'd been wrapped safely in Liara's arms in the early hours of the morning. The commandos sudden appearance at the docks, and Liara's laid back attitude to their shadowing them, had suddenly brought to the forefront the stupidity of what she had suggested.

Teiron's mother had borne four children. Teiron, the youngest, had been a hundred and fifty years (one hundred and forty-seven, but who was counting) younger than the youngest of her siblings. She had never really gotten along with her closest sister, more so after the death of their mother. She kept in touch with the older ones, but even they had fallen out of contact over the last six or seven years. Still, Teiron had wanted them to know. The youngest she'd called. Virna, who had steadfastly refused to have any children, was working for a small mining company out in the Terminus Systems. But Teiron's other sisters...

Twins were nearly unheard of in asari pregnancies, with less than 1 in 1,000,000 births leading to a set of identical daughters. Most asari multiples separated and rarely spoke once they left home, aliens having a hard enough time differentiating one asari from another even when they did not share identical features. Teiron's sisters, though, had settled in asari space, and lived quite comfortably, together with their respective bondmates. When they had them. The last pair of turian brothers they had been seeing, on their mother's insistence, had passed on not many years after their mother, and as far as Teiron knew, neither had gone looking for another bondmate since. They had six children between them, all but the youngest two grown and out of the house.

Teiron had suggested they take a short vacation to tell her eldest sisters in person. The idea had come to her and she'd suggested it without thinking. Now, it had come back to haunt her.

An hour later she was standing in the crowded dock, clinging tightly to Erra's hand despite the girl's protests. The place was teeming with aliens, humans and turians vying for space with a family of volus and a handful of hanar. She couldn't spot her sisters in the crowd, and decided to make one last, desperate plea to avoid them.

"Look, we can get a hotel. I hear there is a killer theme park that they built about a decade ago that is the talk of the planet. Not to mention the waterfalls, we can hike up there, have a picnic?"

"I do not know what has you so afraid, Teiron. I'm sure your sisters are wonderful people. They are related to you, after all," she added with a grin.

Teiron frowned, mumbling, "Exactly. That's what I'm afraid of," before spotting the pair weaving through the crowd toward them. They were indistinguishable from each other. They stood perhaps a half-inch taller that Liara, with an aqua skin-tone that lent itself almost to the green instead of the blue. Their markings were identical as well, sliding along their cheeks, in a pattern of spots reminiscent of a jaguar. They frowned as one as their eyes fell on Liara, but shot identical grins at their niece.

"Auntie Tamsy'n! Aunt Jumeya," Erra cried, finally extracting her hand from her mother's and running toward her aunt. The woman on the right swept Erra up into her arms, hugging her close.

"My goodness how you've grown, little bit," the one of the left said with a laugh, "You must have finally outstripped Nakya. She won't be pleased." While her sister put Erra back on the ground, she turned to Teiron. "So, baby sister, to what do we owe this unexpected pleasure? We get a call that you are coming to visit, but you will not answer our questions as to why. Though I gather it has something to do with what I've been reading in the tabloids?" Her eyes darted to the woven band on Teiron's wrist, and her markings pulled back in surprise. She glanced at her twin, who shook her head slowly.

"Jum, do you really want to have this conversation here?"

"Perhaps not," Jumeya agreed, and turned to lead them away, without bothering to wait for the introduction that Teiron had been on the verge of giving Liara. She stopped suddenly when the team of four commandos suddenly jumped in front of her, one of them staring her down while the others cleared a path from them. The crowds parted, the aliens staring in awe, while the asari took one glance at the commando leathers and quickly averted their eyes. They certainly kept the whispers to a minimum. Her sisters seemed a bit startled by the commandos' presence, but beyond a quick glance in Liara's direction, they kept it to themselves.

Erra walked with her aunts, the three of them talking about her school, her friends, and her cousins that were still at home. This left Teiron and Liara to walk alone, with only a single commando at their back to hear them.

"And those, in case you didn't catch it, were my sisters," Teiron sighed. She fought the urge to reach over and grab Liara's hand. The commandos might keep people quiet about what they'd seen on the entertainment news, but she wasn't entirely convinced they'd keep the crowds away if they walked through the port hand-in-hand.

"They seem friendly enough with Erra," Liara answered, watching as the girl in question threw her head back and laughed.

"Yes, well, the fact that I had a daughter at all was apparently a small miracle in their eyes. Not that it brought me any help when I needed it when she was a baby." There wasn't as much bitterness in her voice as she'd expected. She'd never been close to any of her sisters, having a much closer relationship with her cousin, who had been decidedly closer in age. Her cousin had gone through huntress training, though, and had died when she'd been little more than a hundred. She had resented them for a long time for not helping her out when she'd decided to raise Erra on the Citadel rather than bringing her here to raise alongside her cousins. There had been a short time when she'd regretted it. Glancing over at Liara now, she was glad she'd not given in to their demands, and had suffered through figuring out how to care for her daughter on her own.

Liara had no answer for her, and the remainder of the trip to the twins' home was taken in a comfortable silence between the two, while Erra took up all her aunts attention. The commandos followed behind in a separate skycar, and Teiron felt strangely naked while they drove. It had barely been two days, but not having at least one of them around left a strange hollowness in her. She found she rather liked it.

The twins lived in a classic styled asari building just on the edge of the city. The towering structure of sweeping curves and open gardens housed the two of them and the two daughters they still had at home in the main apartment. The elder children had all left home, and though both expected them to return when they decided to start their families, that time had yet to come.

The commandos had searched the entire area before the rest of them had even gotten their bags out of the car. Liara dismissed them completely afterward, with directions to a local hotel. Teiron thought for a moment that they might argue, but she'd learned long ago that very few people argued with Liara. It simply wasn't worth it.

Erra ran into the house, and was greeted at the door by her cousins. The smaller of the two looked remarkably like whichever of the twin's was her mother, right down to the pattern of her markings, though hers were a lighter color. The other appeared to be within a year or two of Erra's age, and as soon as she'd seen her cousin had started trying to figure out which of them was the taller.

"It's been too long since they have seen each other," Tamsy'n said, approaching Teiron and Liara while they watched the girls.

"You know you are welcome whenever you want. It's not like I keep you from visiting," Teiron muttered. Tamsy'n had been speaking casually, but Teiron heard so much more in her voice than was probably there.

"No, but I see that despite your earlier protests you can arrive here on rather short notice. It is nice that Erra can get off that station."

Teiron glanced guiltily at Liara. She had paid for the trip, and gotten Teiron out of work. She'd been dropping hints that Teiron should leave Horus' permanently ever since their engagement, even going so far as to leave the want ads open on her omnitool and then leaving said device on the counter when she left for the day, and though Teiron wouldn't mind a job with better hours, she had no desire to rely on Liara in the interim.

"Do not mind whatever it is she's saying," Jumeya said, joining them. "We will pretend to be surprised when you tell us everything."

Teiron felt Liara press a reassuring hand between her shoulder blades and found she'd been grinding her teeth. She was waiting for the outcry. Had been since they'd landed. She knew that her sisters knew that she'd always preferred the company of asari. It hadn't exactly been a household secret, despite her mother's attempts to set her up with anything that did not lactate. It was part of the reason why all three of her sister's had been so excited when she'd told them she was pregnant with Erra – and that her father was not an asari. That they hadn't said a word about Liara, had not even allowed her to be introduced, had her feeling highly uncomfortable.

Inside, all three of the girls had slipped away. Teiron watched Liara look for them and felt a wave of love for her she could barely contain. She did feel a bit sorry for Illira and her sisters, though, if Liara had been anywhere near as overprotective of them as she was of Erra.

"So, you must Dr. Liara T'Soni, then," Tamsy'n said once they'd seated themselves in the common room. "I've seen your picture before. You were married to the human commander. The one that defeated the geth that attacked the citadel."

"It was a beautiful wedding," Jumeya added.

"Would you just quit beating around the bush?" Teiron growled, "Yell at me already, and stop playing at being polite."

"T," Liara whispered, rubbing the back of a hand along the outside of her thigh, attempting to calm her. "Relax."

"Asking our sister to relax is like asking a volus to give to charity. It might happen occasionally, but you should not expect it," Jumeya laughed.

Liara grinned, "I know the truth of that," she said, earning a glare from her lover.

"We are not playing at anything, Teiron," Tamsy'n said, "We are very happy for you. We worried a bit for your safety, but if the four that came with you are any indication I doubt that is an issue. I can't say we are exactly thrilled, no offense Dr. T'Soni, in your choice of partners, but if you must have an asari to be happy," she shrugged, "we are not mother."

"Oh," Teiron mumbled. She hadn't been expected that at all.

"Honestly, baby sister," Jumeya chastised, "I would think you know us better than that. How many times did we return for holidays and help sneak you and your girlfriends past mother and Harlen? If she had any idea what you were getting up to right under her nose," she laughed.

"Something I should know about?" Liara teased, getting her a soft chuckle from the twins.

"Everyone knew this day was coming, except Teiron, since she was thirty. Even mother, for all her attempts to set her up with a good turian," both sisters rolled their eyes, "had no delusions that you would ever settle for anything less than completely ignoring propriety in your bonding," Tamsy'n answered her.

"But," Jumeya interrupted, "I gather there is more to this than just what has filtered through about Dr. T'Soni's new lover."

"Ah, yes," Tamsy'n agreed, "the true reason for your visit, if I can still read a clue. Will you be so kind as to tell us, then?"

Teiron took a shaky breath. This was why they'd come, and she knew her sisters were well aware of what she was here to say. At least most of it.

"Liara and I have, I mean, we've decided, she asked," Teiron stuttered.

"We're planning on being bonded next spring," Liara said, saving her.

"Next spring? You're not going to wait?" Jumeya asked, the soft, indulgent smile she'd had before suddenly falling away.

"The day we have chosen falls just over two Thessian years from the day I proposed," Liara said, smiling suddenly and blushing.

"You waited so long to tell us?" Tamsy'n chastised her younger sister.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly expecting a warm reception," Teiron muttered.

"Shh, T. Be nice."

Teiron glared at Liara, then turned back to her sisters, "Look, the reason I'm here, we've decided on a fully traditional bonding, and with mom gone, I was hoping one or both of you would be willing to stand as guards, alright?" she said in a rush.

Jumeya laughed, "I doubt you have any virtue left to protect, baby sister, from Dr. T'Soni. At least, I would hope you aren't jumping into this without having a good long look at her nervous system first."

Liara cleared her throat uncomfortably and all three sisters smirked at her.

"So, the human media was not putting their strange spin on things when they said that Dr. T'Soni was unlike her asari sisters," Tamsy'n grinned, "There is no reason to be ashamed. It may have been a few centuries since I last lay with an asari, but it did have some advantages." Her words didn't help at all, and Liara buried her face in her hands to hide her blush.

"Would you two stop? You're as bad as her daughters! Honestly," Teiron harrumphed, sliding an arm around Liara's shoulders. "Now will you or won't you? I'll call Virna back if I have to."

"Virna? As your guard? Certainly not. I hardly consider her a sister at all," Jumeya complained. "We would be pleased to stand for you, baby sister. Now, come, you are here for the week, and now that all this unpleasantness is out of the way, I think grabbing our daughters for a pickup game of skyball is in order."

Teiron groaned - she couldn't play to save her life - but she was smiling. Sometimes she wondered why she let herself worry so much.


	24. Chapter 23

The table was cool beneath Ashley's forehead. It had been a long, relentless mission, if it could even be called a mission, and was not helped by the camera crews that had been tailing Shepard and Liara the entire day. The Alliance had apparently decided that their recent nuptials were something to be celebrated, and had approved a heavily censored documentary about the woman who had saved the Citadel almost three years earlier. It was planned to be released with the blockbuster movie about the geth attack that was currently in production. They stayed out of anything that might be dangerous or classified, but they'd just come back from a basic diplomatic mission with the quarians, and the cameras hadn't left them alone for more than a few moments. Garrus had made some wisecracks about how often she had to use the restroom, but that was the only place she could get away. She'd discovered Shepard hiding in there more than once as well.

They'd both decided they didn't like the smug way that Garrus flared his mandibles when they had been discovered leaving the restroom.

Shepard had been cornered in the CIC, and Ashley had used the diversion to come up here and hide. The Crew Deck probably wasn't exactly the _best_ place to hide, but Liara had seemed a bit distracted and she'd hoped that she'd have been able to break into her office. Only to realize that the encryption on the door lock had been tripled since the camera crews had come on board, she'd never been very good at hacking in the first place, and since Liara was trapped right alongside her bondmate, there was no way Ashley was getting in there to hide. Someday, Ashley promised herself, she'd figure out exactly what she got up to in there that was so secret. In the meantime, she just hoped that if anyone walked by, they wouldn't recognize her.

She wasn't even completely sure why the crew felt the need to follow her around. She certainly had nothing to do with Shepard's love affair. She did her best not to think about it all, if she was being completely honest. She wasn't entirely sure how asari biology worked, but she'd seen enough of them dance to know she probably didn't want to.

"If you want to avoid the documentary crew, sitting out in the open of the mess probably isn't the best way," Garrus said, slipping into a chair across from her.

Ashley grunted but didn't lift her head. Sometimes she thought she actually missed running across the galaxy chasing Saren. Worrying that they'd die at any minute. Of course, then she'd really think about it, and she'd revise the thought. It hadn't exactly been fun being one step behind all the time. Still, the fear of constant death did seem slightly less stressful than answering pointed questions about her commanding officer's love life.

"Unless you aren't hiding. Is this some human ritual I don't understand? Communing with the table?"

"Shut up Garrus," she growled without lifting her head.

She could hear the smirk when he said, "Oh, so it is a human thing."

"Screw you."

"You aren't my type," he laughed.

She lifted her head just enough to glare at him with one eye, then sighed and sat up straight. "Isn't it enough that we have to deal with Shepard? Now we have to deal with her fame too?"

Garrus laughed, "I have a feeling you are enjoying every minute of this. Otherwise you'd have just gone down to engineering. They aren't allowed on that deck."

Ashley snorted, "I'm happy for them, sure, but this PR deal is grating."

"You're just upset because Liara let slip that you made spectre when there was an actual war. Never mind that we were both probably disintegrated by an exploding mass relay."

"Hey, she said didn't know what happened. And being a spectre is over rated."

Garrus shook his head slowly, then reached out and patted her hand. She glared at him, but she figured that the slight flare in his mandibles was a smile. This had nothing to do with what Liara had let slip during the party that Shepard had insisted not be prefaced with the word 'bachelorette', so that she could come too. It wasn't even about the documentary crew, either. It was more that she didn't feel like they were doing anything. Oh, sure, the first steps were made for the geth and the quarians to start policing the Terminus, and they'd been around for when the krogan and that weird salarian that had been on Horizon – Mordain? Or something like that – had cured the genophage, but where was the action?

The most interesting thing she'd done in the last two years was break Shepard out of jail. And she'd even, apparently, done that legally. No one had said anything about charges, anyway.

"If you say so. They want to interview us, by the way. Something about knowing what the Commander was like before she met T'Soni. Do you think they'll actually believe that I never said more than a dozen words to her before dragging Liara on board?"

"Probably not. She's the poster child for human-alien relations now. Sometimes I do wonder why I talked her into letting you tag along that day. I've been regretting it ever since," she added playfully.

"You wouldn't know what to do with yourself if I wasn't around. Someones got to keep you from getting soft. I seem to remember kicking your ass the last time we were at the range."

"Only because you've modified that damn rifle of yours until it's barely recognizable."

"I knew you'd blame your tools. Has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a better shot."

"That's because you aren't, Garrus," Shepard said, startling them both as she came around the corner. Liara scurried past on their other side, heading for her office. She raised a quick hand in greeting, and then disappeared behind the door.

"I kick your ass."

"And I could suck you into a singularity and leave you dangling for an hour. But you don't hear me talking about." She slid into an empty seat beside Garrus. "And thank you, both, for having my back up there."

"I knew you could handle it, skipper," Ashley chuckled.

Shepard grunted and leaned back in the chair. "Watch it, Ash, or I'll order you to talk to them."

Ashley glared at her, all the more when Shepard just grinned smugly back at her. Sometimes Shepard was too full of herself for her own good, Ashley thought, but that was probably part of the reason they got along so well.

Garrus slapped Shepard on the back, "Don't be too hard on her. She is still attempting to use a Valiant."

"Bite me, Garrus. Seriously."

"Get a room, you two. But, in the meantime, Director Smarty-pants up there wants a word with both of you. Something about not believing me when I told them about rescuing the fair Lady T'Soni from the grasp of the lava men on Therum."

"Lava men, Shepard? Geth and a rampaging krogan weren't enough?"

"The geth are our allies now, I had to cut them," Shepard answered Ashley, biting back a laugh. "I'm fairly certain they knew I was joking."

Realization dawned on her in the same moment it did with Garrus. "You're toying with them," they said together.

"Maybe. Now, if you excuse me, Liara mentioned something about baby making, and I'd really rather not end up doing it in front of the info drone if I can help it. It filmed us, the last time we made love in her office, and I'm not entirely convinced when EDI says all copies have been destroyed." Shepard got up, slugged Garrus on the shoulder and nodded at Ashley. Then burst out laughing at the mildly disgusted look on Ashley's face. "Oh, don't think I don't know all of you try to pry that information out of my wife." She grinned, wistfully, as she said the word. "Keep it up and I'll tell you exactly how she-"

"Enough!" Garrus interrupted, "I love you like a sister, Shepard, and I'd really rather not know."

"You just aren't any fun. Either of you."

They didn't answer, and after a moment Shepard shrugged and slipped into Liara's office. Liara's VI guard could just be heard wishing the Commander good morning before the door slid shut.

"You know, if you'd let her talk, we could have gotten her back by telling everything to the documentary people," Ashley said.

"I will never understand you, Williams. Or any human for that matter. I'm going to go calibrate the Normandy's main array," Garrus sighed, rolling his eyes.

"And I will never understand that. Rematch, Citadel? When we dock?"

"You're on. If you aren't taken by your time on camera, that is," he laughed as they heard the documentary crew piling off the elevator. Ashley groaned and wondered if it was too late to request a transfer to a _normal_ ship. Deciding it probably was, she rushed after Garrus before the crew had situated itself and realized either of them were there.

"Just, show much how the damn thing works, okay?" she muttered as Garrus laughed at her, again. But he didn't kick her out, and was kind enough to not open the door when the crew knocked.

* * *

Illira rubbed sleep from her eyes as she shuffled into the common room of the hotel suite. The place her mother had rented for the wedding party was closer to a small apartment than a hotel suite, boasting four bedrooms and a small kitchenette, but Illira hoped the fact that it _was_ a hotel room meant she could get room service even though it was still hours until dawn. She scratched the side of her crest, eyes closed as she moved across the room. She bit back a yelp when she opened them, her biotics flaring brightly in the dark room.

"Damn it, Alli, you shouldn't sneak up on people in the dark," Illira muttered. She'd thought her sister was still asleep in the room they'd been sharing.

"I didn't sneak anywhere. I was here long before you woke up." Allison stifled a cough, wincing as she did. She was sitting on the sofa, watching the occasional sky car glide by in the very early morning.

"Can't sleep?"

"Minor fever, I forgot to order from the human menu at dinner last night."

Illira grinned at her sister, "You'd think it would have become second nature to you after this long, Al. Trying to sabotage the wedding?"

"Oh, get off it. I haven't seen mom this happy since dad died. And Teiron isn't half bad, not really. It all seems a little fast, though, doesn't it? They were good together, without having to go and bind wrists."

"It's been five years. That's twice as long as it took mom and dad, including all the time dad was 'MIA'. And I still question mom's insistence that she and Teiron didn't get busy when they knew each other when mom worked in Nos Astra. No matter what they all say. I mean _look_ at them together. It's so cute." Illira shifted her weight, glancing into the dark bedroom where she knew her mother and Teiron slept.

Allison grunted her agreement, shifting to hug her knees. Illira, forgetting the room service she had gotten up to order, moved to sit beside her. Kiyett had thrown herself head first into planning the bonding alongside their mother. She'd even gone so far as to put on clothes without holes in them the entire time they'd been on Illium and had taken out her larger piercings. Illira found the whole affair exciting. Doubly so, as she'd been friends with Teiron well before she'd been reunited with Illira's mother. She knew Teiron had some issues with their friendship now, as if the fact that she slept with her mother somehow made it impossible for them to continue to be friends. That was perhaps the only downside to the whole wedding; that Teiron seemed ill at ease around her when they were alone.

Allison though...Allison had been highly excited when she'd stumbled home with Kiyett to discover Teiron, half-dressed, sitting in the kitchen four years ago, but since the reality that her mother would be marrying Teiron had settled it, she'd been less accepting of it. It was easy enough to tease, Allison had confessed to Illira, but was this the right thing for their mother? Illira knew it was simply not wanting to let go of their father, but she also knew that her dad would have wanted this for their mom. She knew that it had been her father's dying wish that their mother be _happy. _And she had an inkling that Teiron's devotion to her mother would have pleased her father to no end.

She would never tell her mother this, but she thought that her father and Teiron would have been good friends - had the situation between them been different.

"Anyway," Illira said after they'd sat in silence watching the world outside for a few long minutes, "I was going to order up some food. You want some?"

"Is the kitchen even open? It's like three in the morning."

"Spoilsport," Illira grumbled, flopping back onto the sofa. "We should probably get some sleep. You heard mom's plans for tonight, right?"

Allison groaned, and buried her face in her knees. "Of course. She's over three hundred years old! She should be old enough to know that getting completely shit faced before her wedding is a bad idea."

"Alli!" Illira gasped, "Where did you learn language like that"

Allison chuckled, "Says the woman who made Poppi blush on more than one occasion."

"You're confusing me with Kay. Do you know if Poppi's going to make it? Mom told me that she didn't seem too enthused about coming out of her 'retirement' to attended the wedding."

"She comes in tomo- this afternoon. She told me she wouldn't miss throwing mom a party if she were standing on death's door."

"That's not far from the truth." Allison smacked her for that, but they were both grinning. Their grandfather was definitely getting on in years, but she was as strong-willed as it was possible to get. The sisters had a running bet on how long she'd be around for. So far Kiyett's belief that she'd outlive all her grandchildren, and probably some of her great-grandchildren, at least the ones that were already floating around anyway, was the only one that had yet to be changed. Illira secretly hoped her baby sister was right.

There was a soft scraping from one of the bedrooms and both sisters turned. Like asari homes, none of the rooms had doors and whoever was moving around in the dark was clearly using the soft glow of Allison's implants in her arms and legs to maneuver. Illira smiled as her friend shuffled into the common room. Teiron looked like she hadn't slept at all, dark circles under her eyes.

"Have you two ever considered being quiet," Teiron whispered.

"Sorry," Allison whispered back, "We didn't mean to wake you."

Teiron grunted, pinching the bridge of her nose. Without looking at them again she went over to the intra-building comm and ordered what Illira could only hope was breakfast. She didn't want to think about what other things Teiron could use the food she'd ordered for. It was one thing to be perfectly okay with her friend marrying her mother, and another thing completely to actually think about what it is they got up to. Her only consolation was that Teiron was asari which thankfully meant that they didn't do much more than cuddle.

"Hey, get me waffles," she piped up before Teiron disconnected the call.

Teiron rolled her eyes, but added it to the order. She started back towards the bedroom, stifling a yawn. "Just bring everything in when it comes. And keep it down. The last thing either of you want is Erra waking up. Trust me."

"You're not staying out here?" Illira asked, "I thought I could pick your brain."

Teiron stopped, obviously more awake than she had been just minutes before. "I'd rather you not. I happen to like it the way it is."

Illira grinned, "Funny. Come on, we haven't talked in ages. You owe me like fifty cups of coffee at this point, you know."

"Would it be rude to blame your mother?"

"Yes. But I'll waive half of them if you sit up with us. I don't want to think about what's going on in there."

"Sleeping, Illira. Your mother's head hit the pillow and she was out before I'd even turned the light off. I told her to let my sisters handle it. I told her to back off, that she was wearing herself out. But did she listen? Of course not. That would be too damn easy," Teiron growled softly, throwing herself into an overstuffed chair by the window.

"I told her I'd handle it too. Apparently though, no one knows what to do but her. I honestly don't know how my parents pulled it off in so short a time if mom was this fussy."

"Oh, that's easy. Nana. Mom hated her so much she wanted to make things official with dad before Nana could get involved," Allison giggled.

"Mom didn't hate Nana. They just had a mutual dislike for each other. I think by the time Nana passed, Mom actually enjoyed the way they argued. Dad got a kick out of it."

"Nana?" Teiron asked.

"Dad's mom. She um...had a mild dislike for anything not human," Illira answered. "With the exception of us."

Allison laughed, "That's a good one. Remember that time she tried to kill Uncle Garrus?"

"Don't exaggerate. She didn't try to kill anyone. She did attempt to break up his marriage though. That was fun. I was, what? Thirty? Kiyett wasn't in school yet. He and Aunt Ashley had been together for going on forever. She didn't stand a chance."

"What am I marrying into?" Teiron sighed, obviously amused.

"Oh, well, you know Grandma Benezia was tried posthumously for crimes against the republics. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity or something like that. She was indoctrinated, but no one's really willing to make that a legal defense. But most of the crazies are on dad's side."

"That's reassuring," Teiron laughed quietly.

"It should be. Mom's not exactly normal, but we don't have any crazy relatives hidden in the wood work. Well, ones that aren't adopted into the family anyway. Our brother Grunt's a bit of a kook."

"I'm looking forward to meeting him. Your mother speaks highly of him, for a krogan."

"She would. She's a quarter krogan herself," Allison put in.

"Not that she's ever headbutted anyone, or anything. Dad did once, though."

Teiron chuckled. She'd heard about her future father-in-law, but had never met her, as far as Illira knew. Poppi lived on Tuchanka, and had since Kiyett had moved out their parents home and hadn't left since. She was, according to herself, much too old to be bothering with anything but settling down and enjoying what was left of her life. Illira had kept her grandfather up to date on her mother's love life, of course, and Aethyta hadn't seemed the least bit surprised when Illira had told her about Teiron. She was strangely looking forward to them meeting the following day.

The door chime dinged and Illira got up to answer it. She grabbed the food from the cart, tipped the asari that had delivered it, making sure that the young maiden couldn't actually see into the suite. The staff had been attempting to sneak in there since they'd arrived days before.

She brought the chilled bowls of whatever Teiron had ordered over to her, and gave her a brief hug before handing them over.

"I just want you to know, T," she said, grinning broadly, "I think you are the best thing that's happened to my mom since I was born."

They both ignored Allison's disgusted huff, and Teiron nodded once, smiling, before taking the bowls back to the bedroom.

Illira really hoped she imagined the almost sultry sound of her mother's voice asking what had taken Teiron so long.


	25. Chapter 24

"Hold still, baby, while Mommy takes our picture," Shepard cooed at Allison. "I know, the wires are annoying, but you made it to a year, baby girl, so don't you start crying."

Of course, saying that caused the tiny bundle of blankets and tubes and wires to start wailing. She wasn't strong enough to kick any of it away from her, but it did make holding her difficult. There was a loud click, and Shepard sighed, shifting the tiny bundle onto her shoulder. Allison continued to scream, but it was much easier to hold her.

"It was your idea to throw this party," Liara grinned, extracting their young daughter from her father's arms. Allison began to quiet at once, content in her mother's arms. "Asari do not normally celebrate the first year."

"A fact that I accepted for Illira, but I've got leave, and you know the doctors didn't even think she'd make it this far. We have to make the memories while we can." Shepard closed her eyes, sighing deeply. "Just in case," she whispered.

"Just in case," Liara agreed, and caught Shepard's lips in a quick kiss just as there was a knock on the door.

"Auntie Tali! Uncle Kal!" Came the resounding scream from the entry hall as Illira opened the door. The couple followed the sound of their eldest's excited chatter and found the two quarians, and their unsuited son in the doorway. The boys parents still wore the majority of their suits, though Reegar's was clearly less armored than the one Shepard had seen him in last, leaving only their hands free. Thessia and Palaven were two of the only planets where the geth's work on adjusting the quarian immune systems wasn't complete. Their children handled Thessia okay, as long as the weather was good, but not their parents.

"Let them in, Illy," Shepard laughed, pulling her daughter away from the door, "Don't make them stand in the doorway."

As the door closed behind them, Shepard took the squirming, bright-eyed child from them, and the couple undid their masks. It had been a decade since they'd finally brokered a peace with the geth without so much as a single shot fired, and the continued good relations between the geth and the quarians had done wonders for both.

"Sorry we're early, ma'am," Kal said, laying his and Tali's masks on the small table by the door. "Had an easy time on the layover at the Citadel."

"As long as you don't mind that we still don't have the food ready, then you aren't actually early. Isn't that right little Kar? And don't call me ma'am."

The baby blew spit bubbles and laced his three fingers into Shepard's hair. "Mee ka ingoo la," he said seriously.

Tali chuckled and helped Shepard extract her son from the human's hair. "Sorry," Tali squeaked, laughing.

"I have two, Tali. Trust me, drool in my hair is a very common occurrence."

"Why do they enjoy it so much?" Tali asked, handing Kar off to his father and putting her own black locks into a quick ponytail. "Thank you for showing me this, I cannot believe my people did not think of this before. It has taken off among those of us that live full-time on Rannoch. Now, where is the birthday girl. We brought a friend who says he might be able to help." Tali bent over Liara's arms, fawning over the tiny baby in her arms. "It's hard to believe they are only four weeks apart," Tali comments, eying the tube running along Allison's cheek and up her nose. "Have you considered cybernetics?"

Liara and Tali walked off toward the kitchen, discussing the various means the quarians had for cybernetic enhancement, and how it might be adjusted to help Allison. Shepard caught another voice, just as Illira moved to race after them, and smirked as Legion joined the conversation.

"I'm working on getting the Citadel to allow geth platforms to pass through, I really am. Not that anyone listen to me."

"It's not a problem," Kal answered, shifting his son to his hip, "we have the disassembled platform in our luggage, but it'll take an hour or so to assemble."

"Let's get everything moved into the guest house then."

"Thank you, Shepard. She's going to be a fighter. I remember what you did for me, on Haestrom. You made this possible," he said, tickling Kar, "and I don't doubt that young Allison will grow up to do amazing things as well."

"I hope so," Shepard agreed, after grabbing the quarian couples bags from the back of their rented skycar and returning inside. "Liara made up the back guest house. She thought it would be easier with the little one. Garrus and Ash's kids are old enough to camp out with Illy, and apparently the rest of my old crew is celibate."

Two hours later, both Kar and Allison up from their naps, and the entire crew of the Normandy finally arrived, Shepard stood in front of everyone and raised a hand for silence.

"Thank you, all, for making it out here. I hope everyone is okay with the sleeping arrangements? Its been months but I still can't get over how big this place really is."

"Like we have a choice," Jack called from somewhere in the back.

"I hear there is a nice hotel in Armali proper, Jack, if you don't like it. Or I can make you share a room with Grunt." There was an appreciative laugh from the assembled crowd, except from Jack and Grunt, and Shepard raised a hand again to quiet them. "It's been a long ass time since I gave any of you an inspiring speech, and that's really not what I'm trying to do now. I really just want to thank you.

"The last ten years have been great. Liara and I have two wonderful daughters, the Alliance took me back, and I've settled down as much as an old soldier really can. And when we found out about Allison, all of you, every last one of you, even you Jack, were so supportive. We've still got the cards.

"The doctors questioned whether she'd make it through her first week, and by the end of it, I didn't know if I would even make it. But she did, and I did, with no small amount of help from all of you. Karen, Miranda, Alli wouldn't be here today if you hadn't stepped in. The doctor's gave her until she was six months old, and she zoomed past that with a quick surgery and enough drugs to make Aria T'Loak blink. They said she wouldn't see a year old, but here we are, today, with Allison Shepard, a year older, and no signs of giving in.

"So thank you. All of you." She paused, and there was a tense silence as they waited , expectant. "Let's have cake.

The crowd dispersed with a groan and a chuckle, and moved loudly into the kitchen.

"That was beautiful," Liara said, tucking herself up against Shepard's side.

"I've given worse, I guess. Aren't you going to yell at me though?"

"For what?" Liara asked, watching Illira play with Garrus' children out of the corner of her eye.

"Traynor's about to steal our baby." Samantha was cooing over Allison, the baby silent, but her eyes wide as she stared at this strange human face that was not her father.

"I'd like to see her try. I am a quarter krogan, and we're very possessive."

Shepard laughed and kissed her forehead. "Damn straight. I know exactly how possessive you are."

Liara glared at her, then smirked and went to rescue Traynor from the now screaming child. Shepard looked around the room seeing all her old friends; all older, some of them perhaps a little wiser, but all of them still coming when she called. Even if it was just for her daughter's first birthday.

"Does that sort of thing normally work before a battle?"

"Anything Tali has told you was a lie, Kal." She saw the quarian smirk and shake his head.

"If you say so, Shepard. Great party, anyway. I'm glad things are working out. Always thought you deserved it."

* * *

The kid was staring at her. Aethyta pulled her lips back, baring her teeth in a smile. The kid made a little squeaking sound and hid behind her mother. Who, much like her daughter, was also staring at her. Sometimes she wondered where her daughter found them. Shepard at least would hold her own. This one was a little too whiny, and seemed to be in a perpetual state of disbelief. That much, at least, hadn't changed since the last time Aethyta had seen her. She'd aged well, though. Aethyta hadn't exactly known what her daughter had seen in this woman back when they'd both been maidens, but she'd had to keep her mouth shut about it (and had to keep from shaking her kid to death when she'd discovered they'd been living together but not screwing). At least she filled out her shirt now that she'd gone and gotten herself knocked up once.

The bar they were currently in was decidedly more high-class than any bar really should ever be, in Aethyta's opinion. There were too few dancers, the drinks were served in actual glass glasses and not the almost-glass plastic that any bar worth it's salt invested in to keep breakage down. If your patrons weren't getting drunk enough to break shit, than as a bartender you just weren't doing your job right. It was the sort of place she'd been forced to work at while she'd be on surveillance detail for the Matriarchs. The sort of place she should have expected her daughter to pick. It sometimes seemed like Liara didn't have a normal asari bone in her body. She'd almost not let the kid come, like any asari bar would ever not let kids in. How hard was it to not give drinks to the short thing that clearly didn't even have her biotics yet?

Aethyta was damned certain that Liara had spent way too much time around humans for her own good.

Her transport had been late, which, she supposed, explained the staring. She was supposed to have arrived around lunch time, but a radiation storm had been passing between Tuchanka and it's relay, holding everyone up. There was nothing in the galaxy quite like being stuck on a tiny ass ship with three dozen krogan and their various children. She had disembarked that particular ship decidedly richer and slightly drunker than when she'd boarded. Much to her daughter and granddaughters' chagrin when she'd come sauntering into the bar minutes earlier.

"So, you're fucking my daughter," she said, leaning her weight back onto her heels. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted her daughter flinch. As if she hadn't said far worse over the years. If there was one thing Aethyta had learned living down the road from her daughter, it was that Liara could give her or Shepard a run for their money in a cussing contest. Not that she'd ever let on. She was much too much like her mother when it came to crap like that.

"I...," Teiron narrowed her eyes, then glanced over at Liara. Aethyta glanced at her too, smirking at the angry, embarrassed glare that was being directed at her. Teiron reached behind her and patted her daughter on the back. The kid frowned at Aethyta, but her mother's request was clear, and she slunk off toward Liara. "Yeah, I am. What of it?"

Aethyta grinned. That was more like it. Goddess damned woman actually had a backbone in there somewhere. "Nothing. About damn time she found another body to keep her warm at night. Spent way too much time around humans, if you ask me. They're worse than the salarians. At least the lizards have an excuse, right? Picked up their bad habits. Not gonna come crawling back to me weeping again are you? 'Cause I'm not listening this time."

"I wouldn't have the first time if I'd know who you were. Is there a reason you felt the need to keep a secret like that?"

"Yeah, there is. Not that you need to know. You good to her?"

"I do what can. "

"In bed," she said, watching Teiron's impassive face, "Five hundred years ago, I didn't have to qualify."

"That's what I meant," Teiron replied, smirking.

Aethyta laughed, slapping Teiron on the arm. "Damn right. Ha, this ones a keeper, kid," she called to Liara, who was actually making a decent show of not listening while sipping that human swill she liked so much.

"That would be why I'm marrying her tomorrow. Father. Now, are you going to continue to interrogate my future bondmate, or are you going to let her enjoy herself?"

"She'd enjoy herself more if the two of you were alone. What's with this thing anyway? Dinner's usually after the wedding, not the night before."

"This is a human custom, Poppi," Illira interrupted, shoving a drink into Aethyta's hand, "I know you know that."

Aethyta snorted, "I let it pass with that father of yours, since she was human. I'd've even turned a blind eye to some of those strange turian customs had your mother gone the classic route. But I don't see any of them hanging around here."

That wasn't completely true, but close enough. Liara had apparently wanted to keep the party small, and the guests here were restricted to family. But, that meant that Kiyett's lover of the hour, a young human woman with teeth that were probably a bit too big for her face, and Illira's date, a human male who was sporting a grin that made him look like an utter fool, were in attendance.

"I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time anyway, Poppi." Illira laughed, chuckling to herself. Damn grandkids. She tossed back whatever Illira had handed her, just barely kept from gagging. Ryncol. She drank enough of the shit that she could handle it without batting an eye, but she was much too old to be shooting it. She held her own though, and as the creeping, tearing burn settled in her stomach, she had to admit that she felt better. She'd been getting much too close to sober anyway.

She spotted Kiyett and her lover sitting at a table in the corner. The kid, shit, she couldn't remember her name, was sitting with them. Her granddaughter smiled, and her soon-to-be granddaughter-in-law turned her disbelieving stare on her again.

"Get lost," she told the human.

"Poppi!" Kiyett complained as the woman made a beeline for the door. "Damn it, Poppi, I was going to take her home tonight."

"She was, what, 18? You aren't missing anything." She slid into the recently vacated chair. "You got something to say?" she asked the kid.

"'S it true that you took down a Krogan Battlemaster with nothing but your biotics and a human switchblade?" the kid asked, eyes wide.

Aethyta laughed. What had her granddaughters been feeding this poor child? "No. And whoever told you that would do well to remember who taught them how to fight."

"Dad," Kiyett responded evenly, leaning back in her chair.

Goddess be damned, they were so much like their father. All three of them needed to be brought down a peg. Well, maybe not Alli, wherever that one had wandered off to, but the other two certainly.

"But she said-"

"My dad was a krogan, okay kid? And krogan aren't known for playing with dolls. Maybe I pinned him a couple of times right after my biotics came in, but chances are he let me. And there wasn't going to be a human around for near on a millennium. I tend to keep my wars with the krogan confined to the Skyllian 5 table these days."

"Oh," the little one said, looking just as disappointed as Illira and Allison the first time she'd told them.

Aethyta leaned back in her chair and eyed the bar, where that pansy asari was nuzzling her daughter's neck while they talked to a set of, if her eyes weren't completely failing her, twins. Hot damn, but it was odd to see that outside of deep asari space. And Illium was most certainly not deep asari space. Satisfied the kid's mother and her own daughter were suitably distracted, she leaned across the table. "How old are you kid?"

"27," she answered slowly, "and my name is Erra, not 'kid'."

Kiyett laughed and Aethyta glared at her. "Get used to it Erra. Most of the time I think Poppi's forgotten my name. And I know for a fact she'd gotten moms."

"Just because I'm old doesn't mean I can't kick your ass, Kiyett T'Soni," she growled, trying very hard to keep the smile from her face when she saw the kid start laughing.

"It's Shepard, Poppi."

"Fuck all, it is. Your mother was a T'Soni. You are a T'Soni. Your daughter's will be T'Sonis. You can play at being scaleless all you want, but whatever your birth records say, you are a T'Soni. That's why I'm your grandfather and not your grandmother, kiddo. Needed to keep the T'Soni line going. But this is hardly the place to discuss such family matters, I wrote that one off ages ago, let's get this girl a drink."

"Poppi!" Kiyett shouted, causing all heads in the bar to turn. Aethyta rolled her eyes. She had failed these three horribly. At least her other daughters were supposed to be showing up the next day with their families. They were decidedly more normal. She waved away the onlookers, but knew that Liara wouldn't be half as distracted as she had been anymore. Very little got Kiyett to scream like that, and they all knew it.

"I was going to get you plastered, kid, but you can blame this ones better sense for having to stay sober. Do us a favor though, and get me another glass of Ryncol. And a batarian chaser." The kid backed away, eyes locked on her until her back bumped into the bar. Her mother came up to her, then, and chuckled when the kid explained. Aethyta smirked and crossed her arms.

"You think she's good enough?" she asked.

"Erra? She's great. Going to be a handful when she gets older."

"Not the infant, you idiot,"" Aethyta laughed, "Teiron. I didn't think she was half bad two centuries ago, but she was whiny. Don't know if your mother can take that. Or if she deserves to. I don't have much clout anyway, but this whole thing is being watched by the Matriarchs. I'm sure I could pull some strings if I had to."

"She makes mom happy, and out of my crest. That makes her okay in my book."

Aethyta grunted, "Two very good reasons right there. You were obviously raised very well."

"Screw you, Poppi."

"I'm getting too old for that. Well, I guess this means I can't get out of it now. Anything happens, though, and I'm not going as easy on her as I did your father."

Kiyett laughed, "I wouldn't expect you to. Now come on, Allison is heading this way. Act drunker than you are, Poppi, it'll annoy the crap out of her."


	26. Chapter 25

The room was packed, still. Liara peeked around the corner, laughing when Shepard tugged on her arm and pulled her back toward her. The ribbons binding them together ran up Liara's bare arm, and over the rich fabric of Shepard's dress uniform. She was swept up into Shepard's arms and hugged close as the double glass doors opened and the guests finally began to file out of the hall. They were hidden from the view of the guests, and the near on one hundred reporters and videographers that were stopping various people and trying to get them to talk. The large urn filled with a mix of silk Thessian and Earth flowers was more than large enough for them to hunker behind and avoid the crowd, while still watching the people move passed.

Liara pressed herself against Shepard, burying her face in her neck, their bound arms now tucked between their bodies. She stifled a giggle as she heard Hannah complain loudly to an entertainment reporter from the Citadel. Shepard shushed her and pressed a kiss to the top of her crest. They had just left the photographers they'd actually wanted at the wedding, and were supposed to be on their way to the reception hall. Shepard had instead drug her back here, to see if they could hide out under the reporters noses.

It was taking everything she had to keep from laughing as they hid. She was giddy, light-headed. There had been such a rush around this whole thing, the date being pushed up repeatedly, the venue changing, the guest list being revamped over and over again. And that was before they'd even thought about the reception. Liara knew that even during the ceremony, Shepard had been feeling stressed. The reporters were a big part of it, but more than that, she thought that Shepard probably would have preferred the tiny wedding they'd had in secret, in a different world, a different time, a different place. The part of her that had dreamed of this wedding, with all their friends around, and the world completely aware of how much they loved each other, had rebelled against Shepard's idea to play games on this of all days. The part of her that loved Shepard more than anyone, anything, else in the world, that part of her and smiled broadly and was currently stifling giggles in her wife's neck.

The crowd finally dispersed, all of them climbing into various skycars just outside to go to the hall where the reception was being held.

"We should go," she whispered, listening to the sounds of the crowd slowly dying around them.

"Not yet, wait until they're all gone."

"They're going to be expecting us," she giggled, leaning in the warm hand as Shepard ran it along her back, over the low cut of the silk dress she wore.

"I know you two are impatient," a voice interrupted, "but a hallway? I never thought human's were so indecent, Shepard."

"How the hell did you find us, Garrus? I put all my N7 skills to work to find this place."

"And then forgot to watch your six. I know that is normally my job, but you know, I thought maybe the fact that you've finally made things official might give me a break."

"I am very sorry, Garrus, I was distracted," Liara admitted as Shepard's hand continued to roam over her back.

"Mmn, I noticed. Come on, I'll sneak you out the back way."

"You're the best Garrus. I would totally invite you on our honeymoon, but best not to piss off the wife so soon."

"Like I'd want to go," he retorted, stepping around the urn to block them from view as the scurried down the hallway.

"You're gonna miss us and you know it."

"That is debatable. Now hurry, I see those camera's coming again. How the hell Shepard? I swear you attract them like varren to shit."

"It's my debonair charm. Thanks, Garrus. Drinks are on me," Shepard said as she shut the door to the limo that had been waiting for them.

"That's great," Garrus told the retreating vehicle, "they were anyway."

* * *

Teiron held her breath, watching the scene just beyond the green and purple flowers that blocked her from the view of the assembled guests. She fiddled with the woven bracelet on her wrist – the only thing she was currently wearing. Her nerves were on fire, and every sound seemed amplified. She kept thinking she was going to wake up. If the last five years hadn't been a dream, certainly today was. There was no other explanation for how she could be here, attempting, and failing, to catch sight of Liara across the shallow pool that currently dominated the center of the Nos Astra hanging gardens.

The entire park had been reserved months before, and though some of the outlying areas were still open to tourist traffic, the central garden had been closed for over a week while they prepared for the ceremony. The reflecting pool had been drained, and refilled with sea water. Marble benches had been brought out of storage and assembled around the pool. The traditional blend of Siari and Athame rituals that she and Liara had agreed on was not wholly uncommon here in Nos Astra, but generally the participants used the smaller pools that circled the tower where the gardens grew. This upper level of the tower, standing as tall as any of the structures in downtown Nos Astra, was generally left unreserved. Though few asari had a fear of heights, it could still be unnerving to be standing before the statue of Athame hundreds of feet up in the air. It was twilight, and the few scattered clouds caught the suns dying rays and made the sky look like it was on fire. They could not have planned the weather better if they had tried. The pool was cast in shadow, the towering plants, most of them native to Thessia rather than Illium, circling it and providing cover for the wedding party.

She wished she could see Liara. Or even Aethyta for that matter. Her future father-in-law might not be the most cultured asari to ever live, but she was proof that it was Liara on the other side of the water. Proof that this was real. That the pounding of her heart, which seemed so similar to how it felt on that rainy evening all those years ago, was not just in her imagination.

She could hear the assembled crowd. Family, friends, distant relatives of old friends. Surprisingly there was no press. The krogan had recently petitioned to council for yet another colony world, and the leader of the movement, Urdnot Wrex, the oldest living krogan since the passing of the Patriarch some ten years earlier, was rough enough around the edges to pull the media's attention away from a single mom nobody, even if she was marrying the better half of the galaxy's best known power couple. Teiron had asked Liara, when the news had broken, if she'd spoken to Wrex recently. She knew, everyone knew, that the two were old friends. Shepard had been an honorary krogan, had apparently adopted the tank born krogan that was currently somewhere in the milling crowd, and that, combined with Liara's own lineage, didn't make it hard to connect the dots.

Liara had simply smiled at her.

Teiron was certainly not going to complain about it though. If Liara wanted to pull strings to get the media off their backs so they could have a nice, quiet, wedding, well, more power to her.

Someone laid a hand on her shoulder, and Teiron jumped, startled. Tamsy'n stood beside her, her long, silver robes billowing in the slight, warm, breeze.

"Don't be nervous."

"Who said anything about being nervous? It's just chilly up here. Asari weddings don't normally take place on the top of toll buildings in the middle of winter for good reason."

Her sister smiled at her, and shook her head. "Jumeya is speaking with the officiate now. It is not too late to change your mind and have her stand for you instead."

"You met Matriarch Aethyta. Now think about what you just said."

There was long, even peel of a bell, followed by a rising scale of notes. "Mmn, in that case I believe that is my cue."

Teiron watched as her sister slipped through the foliage and went to stand at the edge of the pool. Matriarch Aethyta came into view through the leaves as well, so that the two were facing each other. The elder matriarch looked thin and frail in the silver robes, but Teiron knew that despite her age she was anything but. The previous evening, just before she and Liara had snuck out, Aethyta had been showing her 'grandson' the proper way to wrestle a krogan. Much to the enjoyment of Erra and Liara's daughters. Teiron was fairly certain that Liara's father was alive on strength of will alone.

Aethyta raised her arms up, and Tamsy'n mimicked her, their hands flaring in the failing light. The officiate, a Matron nearing her change, stepped into the water, her fingers trailing along the surface. The ripples she caused sparked with biotic energy, the sparks dancing in the eezo infused water.

"I call, in name of all that is, the glory of all. I call, in name of that which will be, the glory of all. I call, in the name of that which was, the glory of all. In name of Goddess and protector. In name of the bonds that join our universe. In name of love. I call before me those that would answer.

"We gather, that we may join the souls of two that they may be forever one. Yet, those that wish such union do not always know themselves as they should. We gather, that we may hear from those that know them. Let their souls be bared before us.

"I call Tamsy'n to speak for her sister, Teiron, who wears the ribbons.

"I call Aethyta to speak for her daughter, Liara, who gave them.

"Enter the pool, that your words be known as true."

The pair lowered their hands and stepped into the water. Teiron shifted nervously, and ran shaking hands over her bare arms. This was all formality, of course. The papers had been signed that morning, and by council law she and Liara were already wed. Nothing either her sister, nor Liara's father, could say would change anything. Yet, it wouldn't feel real until this was over. Just a few thousand years ago this would have been a deciding factor, and had anyone not liked what they heard she and Liara would have been unable to see each other again. The pressure ate at Teiron, though she knew it was foolish.

This was all for show anyway.

"I speak for my sister, guard her, stand in her place to give testimony," Tamsy'n said, her palms flat on the now-still water. The water sparked, light flashing around her hands in a tangled web.

"I speak for my daughter," Aethyta replied, her pose identical, "guard her, stand in her place to give testimony." The rough edge to her voice seemed out of place in the garden, but strangely, after she spoke Teiron felt more grounded. It was real. If this had all been a crazy dream, she certainly wouldn't have her future father-in-law sounding like that.

"I ask, then, do you know Liara?" Tamsy'n replied, lifting her hands palms up and holding them out to Aethyta.

"She is of my mind, my child."

"And do you Teiron."

"By what my daughter has said."

"You stand for her. Does your daughter love my sister?"

"There can be no doubt," Aethyta said, looking bored. Teiron smirked in her hiding place. Asari marriages were not simple things. There was no divorce when two asari married, even if they split, and separated under council law, this bonding was forever. If only symbolic.

It went on, Tamsy'n asking questions, Aethyta giving the curt, scripted replies. And then it switched. The same questions were asked, this time of Teiron to Tamsy'n. The sun had disappeared now, not even the tiniest spark of light left. The rooftop was now lit only by the glow of the eezo in the water. It cast eerie shadows on the three asari in the water that shifted whenever any of them moved.

Finally, the questioning was done. Teiron straightened her back and composed herself. This was it. Except it wasn't.

"By right of parentage," Aethyta continued, stopping Teiron dead in her tracks. She saw the leaves across the pool shift as well; Liara obviously unaware of her father's intentions, "I request to Rite of Knowledge."

Teiron expected there to be stirring from the gallery, but of course, no one there knew this was unexpected. Tamsy'n looked a little shocked, but then she smiled, bowed slightly, and backed out of the water. Teiron stepped forward, out of the trees. It was colder out here, but the chill eased some of her fears.

The Rite of Knowledge was seldom used. Even before the asari discovered space flight it was rare that it would be used except in arranged marriages, where one family felt the other was keeping secrets. It was a deep meld, deeper even then a mating meld, though it avoided those parts of the brain and nervous system entirely. It touched memory, and memory alone. It's purpose was simple. It bared both parties to the other, let them know the truth behind each other in a way that nothing else could. Teiron thought she should be upset, that she should be angry that Aethyta didn't trust her enough to not call for this, but truly she just felt relived.

Aethyta would know. She would know exactly how much she loved Liara. How long she had loved Liara. She would know that were the galaxy to end that night, Teiron would die happy knowing that Liara loved her back.

She stood on the edge of the water, hands clasped over her stomach. She saw Erra out of the corner of her eye, sitting in the front of the gathered guests with Liara's daughters. Erra waved, smiling brightly at her, and Teiron surreptitiously waved back.

Aethyta approached her, and stepped out of the water as well.

"Prove to me your worth her time," Aethyta said, though not cruelly. She was almost joking.

Aethyta reached out into the space between them, and then Teiron was falling. It was not like the mating meld, even in the slightest, of which she was glad. It wasn't like the maternal melds she'd shared with Erra, and her own mother as a child. It wasn't like anything she'd ever experienced.

During most melds she retained a sense of self. It might be difficult to determine which body parts belong to whom, but she still knew who she was, who her partner was. There was a set distinction between them. Now though, she couldn't even sense her body. Her mind wasn't her own, but Aethyta's, and Aethyta's was hers. Aethyta moved through her thoughts as if she was her, and Teiron forgot that she existed at all. Memories were brought up, and some she knew, and others she did not. She saw her and Liara, on Illium all those centuries ago. Saw the friendship grow after they met again on the Citadel. Saw the last few years in stills and clips. She saw herself with a pale, regal asari in the dark robes of the Central Matriarchy. They walked, hand in hand among the flowerbeds of Thessia. They were at Liara's estate, sitting by the pond in the back. The asari with her was heavy with child. They were laughing, and she placed a hand over the swollen belly of her partner and felt their child move. She came home, to find the estate vacant. A note on the kitchen table, the silver bracelet she'd often played with sitting on it. The note handwritten, the expensive paper stained with tears.

Pictures, coming on her omnitool, of a child growing up. Liara, in snapshots.

And then a voice, a memory, a voice Teiron didn't know, superimposed over Aethyta's.

_Take care of my Little Wing. She's more special than you realize._

Teiron gasped as the meld ended. She panted, unable to catch her breath.

"Thanks," Aethyta said, and patted her on the back. "Take care of her."

Aethyta turned and walked over to the far side of the pool. Tamsy'n returned and took her arm.

"Are you okay?" she whispered. "Did you know she was going to ask for that?"

She shook her head, her heart rate finally slowing, her breathing returning to normal. She straightened her shoulders and saw Liara coming out to join them. She looked livid, and Teiron smiled in an attempt to reassure her. They stepped into the pool together, the water dancing along their bare skin, the eezo slipping through their scales. They stepped forward together, Aethyta and Tamsy'n coming to stand behind them.

The next hour was a blur. She would never remember saying her lines, but she would remember Liara unraveling the ribbons on her wrist and replacing it with one of molded silver. She would never remember placing an identical band on Liara's wrist, though she would remember the way it caught the light of the pool as they raised their arms to be bound. She'd never remember Tamsy'n and Aethyta wrapping each long strand up their arms, but she would remember catching sight of Erra in the corner of her eye, a wide smile on her face. She would never remember the moment when they were pronounced one, but she would remember turning, and having Allison take a picture with her mother's ancient camera. She would never remember stepping out of the warm water of the pool, but she would remember Illira and Jumeya draping them in the traditional wedding dresses. And then there were people coming up to offer congratulations, and other people posing them for pictures, and still more people joking about when dinner was going to be served.

None of it matter though, none of it meant anything, because Liara's hand was clutched in hers, their forearms pressed together and bound tightly, and more than anything Liara was _smiling._

The years would go on, and they would have a life together. Perhaps children, perhaps not. Maybe they'd move to Thessia, or stay on the Citadel, or maybe throw convention to the wind once again and move every six months. It didn't matter. Whatever happened now simply didn't matter.

It had been a long time coming, but Teiron had finally gotten her girl.

She leaned over, pressing a warm kiss to Liara's cheek as they were led off the rooftop. "I'm one hell of a lucky woman," she murmured, then let herself, and Liara get swept along with the crowd.

**Alrighty, so, here's the rub. For the moment, at least, this is the end. Life and I aren't really on good terms, and writting happy cuddly fluff is a CHORE. I wouldn't have been able to get through this chapter at all if I hadn't had the majority of it written already. This was sort of where I wanted to end it anyway (its as far as I got in outlining it), but I had hoped to take it out at least to the epilogue of WIWB, but that doesn't seen feasible at the moment. SO! I'm going to mark this ****as complete, but in the event that things turn around and I feel the need for more Teiron/Liara happy times, then expect that to change. **

**Thank you, all, for reading. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Special thanks to those of you out there, you know who you are, who helped shape this. ** **All of you rock! **


	27. Interlude in Pink

**No, I'm not starting this up again. But Sirrocco wrote this awesome Aethyta-and-hanar-bonding piece for my birthday (it's in her story Broken - go, read the whole thing, now! Shoo! This will still be here when you get back) and said han****ar daughter was just about the most awesome OC I've read in a long time. AND! Because she is the wonderful woman that she is, she let me borrow Eos for this little thing that wiggled itself into my head and wouldn't let me go. It's short, sweet, and pointless. And takes place about half a year before the epilogue of WIWB, or a little less than fifty years after the previous chapter of this story. Thanks again S (have I said it enough yet?)**

**This is dedicated to RJ Ames, for using ALL THE CAPITALS at me after I mentioned that I was thinking about considering about possibly writing this. **

**On with the show:**

* * *

"Should she be doing that?" Shepard asked, eying the asari perched precariously on the back of the sofa at the far end of the room.

"Why shouldn't she?" Liara laughed, passing a hand over the gentle swell of her stomach. At just over twelve months she was showing in earnest now, but wasn't far enough along that she needed to worry about staying on bed rest.

"Because...because...because she told me that if I didn't let her she'd tell your father. And then she called me a pestilent platypus. That doesn't even make sense." Shepard said in a rush, glaring.

"Platyhelminthes. It's a flatworm. And I've warned her before about dumbing herself down for people," Aethyta interrupted, coming up beside the couple. She leaned back against the bar where her daughter and daughter-in-law were standing and crossed her arms. Shepard turned her glare from the asari currently hanging streamers across the ceiling to the matriarch at her side. Aethyta smirked at the look on her face - Shepard apparently unsure if she was being insulted or not. She had no plans on informing her one way or another.

"Whatever it is. This is my ship! I'd rather it not look like it was attacked by a pink pooping silk worm."

"It's crêpe paper, Shepard, not silk," Liara smirked. "And the silken thread produced by silk worms is not a waste product."

"That's not the point!"

Aethyta snorted, slipped around the back of the bar, and poured Shepard a double (it was Blue Label, she noted, Shepard did not skimp on her habit, or Liara's when she was able to drink) and herself a glass of whatever was in the unmarked bottle on the levo-side of the bar. It looked like Ryncol, was probably Ryncol, and probably tasted better than any of the asari shit that was on the shelf behind her.

"Don't work yourself into a frenzy, there, kid," she said, handing Shepard the glass. She laughed outright when Shepard downed half of it in a single swig. So much for it being a sipping whiskey. "It's just party decorations. This is a human tradition, isn't it? I mean, asari generally just have a giant orgy when someone's expecting a baby."

"Father!" Liara chastised, glaring at both her bondmate and her sire.

"Alright, so maybe that was just me when I found out about Eos," Aethyta grinned, earning an eye roll from her daughter and a blank stare from Shepard. "Fine, so I made that up, but this _is_ just plain odd."

"Thank you for pointing that out, Aethyta. You can take that up with your daughters. Both of them."

Shepard hadn't been opposed to the baby shower in theory. They had discussed it all – what Liara had done on Earth, before. What she wanted for this baby. What they could do together. They'd agreed that Shepard would remain a Spectre, would accept reinstatement with the Alliance, and that Liara would raise the baby on the Citadel. They'd agreed to follow asari celebratory traditions, with some changes. Shepard wasn't sure she'd be up to having a child's birthday party in twenty-five years, but she didn't want to miss out on all the piñata candy simply because of it.

And no baby shower.

That had lasted right up until Liara had informed Joker of her pregnancy. The pilot had gone to EDI, who had recruited Tali, who had got Ashley. The three of them, with Joker watching their backs had found Aethyta. Who had laughed at them; Shepard thought rightly.

But Aethyta hadn't been alone at Apollo's that day. Her daughter had been there, trying to weasel information about her baby sister from her mother. Tali would later say that Eos' grin had been almost evil, but Aethyta had said that was simply the way she looked. Something to do with her father. And possibly her grandfather. Most people were aware she had been joking. It had taken close to a year to get everything planned, and while Liara had figured out what was going on, Shepard had been slower on the uptake. It hadn't been until her sister-in-law had paraded, pink pacifier goodie-bags in hand, onto the Normandy that she had had any idea what was going on.

And while the idea of a party was certainly pleasant, the obnoxious pink that now decorated the lounge was not something she enjoyed in the slightest.

The elder maiden hopped down from the back of the sofa and glanced up at her handy work. She nodded once, satisfied, and then joined them at the bar. She eyed Aethyta's glass carefully, then leaned over to smell what was in Shepard's now empty glass.

"Oh, pour me some of that," she said, "you enjoy it don't you Liara?"

Liara grinned at her father, who was trying, desperately, to not grind her teeth. Whiskey. Aethyta wanted to know how it was she ended up with two daughters, neither of which would know decent liquor if it hit them in the face. At least Shepard, if she was going to drink crap, drank expensive crap. Not that she had much room to talk she thought as the watered down Ryncol burned through her.

"I do," Liara agreed, "though there are those that say it is simply because Shepard does." She leaned into the Commander, who wrapped an arm around her waist, laying an open palm over their growing child.

"So," Eos said, leaning over the bar and turning her best set of puppy dog eyes on her mother, "are you going to get me some, or not?" She pouted. Aethyta rolled her eyes, but poured her a glass. She took a tentative sip, shrugged noncommittally and set the glass down. "I was thinking we could start with a few games. I found this page on the extranet about human celebratory traditions."

"I'm going to stop you right there," Aethyta said, "for the sake of Shepard's sanity, and by extension Liara's, and by extension, then, mine, we're wetting the baby's head tonight and nothing else. No games. No weird human shit. Just drinks."

"That isn't fair! I had it all planned!"

"Life isn't fair, deal."

Mother and daughter stared at each other, and Shepard took Liara's hand and drug her silently across the room. Their friends would be arriving shortly, but in the meantime, Shepard was just relieved she wouldn't be subjected to guess the weight of the baby, or blindfolded diaper changing. She made a promise to herself to take Aethyta out for drinks as a thank you.

"Are you okay, Shepard?" Liara chuckled as she was pulled down into the human's lap.

"Yeah. Your sister scares me a little, though."

"She reminds me a little of you, actually."

Shepard gaped, crossing her arms. "Take it back."

Liara laughed, "No."

"Take it back!" Shepard growled, reaching out to tickle Liara, but being overly cautious as she did of the baby.

"Make me. Oh! Here." Liara's laughter cut off sharply and she grabbed Shepard's hand, directing it to the lower right of her belly. "I don't think she knows we're joking."

Shepard felt the ripple across the taunt skin of Liara's stomach, the odd fluttering as her daughter rolled over. "I'm sorry, sweetie," Shepard said, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Liara's stomach, "Mommy can think I'm just like your aunt all she likes. Even if I'm nothing like her at all."

"You are just like her. If you took the time to actually talk to her. She's a commando. Two minutes and I'm sure you'll find that you aren't that different. Tell her about taking down the thresher maw on foot."

"Which time?" Shepard asked, the grin she reserved just for Liara splitting her features.

"The time you didn't use me as bait. Had I known at the time that was your idea of a date, I might not have been quite so interested."

"You love me, and you know it."

"So I've been told," Liara agreed, pressing a soft kiss to Shepard's temple. "It looks like they're done staring each other down. And I for one am looking forward to whatever food Eos brought. It smells delicious. Come on."

* * *

Erra hefted the screaming toddler onto her hip and threw a withering look at her mother, who was bustling around the kitchen. This whole thing had been her idea, but did she have to deal with any of it? Of course not. She was that damn kids father, and apparently, according to her 'research' the father just sat back, went out with friends and got pissed drunk. While leaving her daughter to take care of the mess. The child on her hip smacked her in the face, and Erra growled at it. That usually worked. With random kids on the street that worked. As did telling the parents that she lived on the T'Soni estate.

It shocked her sometimes that in the last fifty years her life had changed so much. From a day trip to the Presidium, with her mother scrimping and saving just to get by, to friends with _Liara-_friggin'-_T'Soni, _ to step-daughter to the same. From living in a tiny apartment on the Citadel, where the power was as likely to be off because of mainframe issues as from her mother not having the money to pay the bill, to living in one the largest estates still on the homeworld. There were parts of this house that were still closed off, that Liara said had been closed off since her own mother had been a child. As amazing as all that was though, as great as it was to tell people that her mom was banging the Shepard's widow, this...this whole thing was not part of the deal she signed up for when Liara had asked her if it was okay if she bonded her mother.

A tall, beautiful matron with light, pinkish markings around her eyes came up and took the screaming toddler from her arms. Erra sagged with relief. She hated kids. All of them. But her cousin...cousin in law?...was by far the worst. "I'm sorry, Erra. I seem a bit caught up in all of this."

"No shit?"

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to watch your language?"

Erra shrugged. Eos was cool enough, she supposed. She reminded her of Liara's dad. Which made sense, she guessed. Thinking of Aethyta was a hell of a downer though. The matriarch had passed away forty years before. She'd gone out fighting – or fucking – there were multiple versions of the story, depending on which krogan you asked. She'd been cool with Erra, though, even if they weren't related.

"There you are!" came an all too familiar cry from the kitchen. Erra groaned, then grinned when she heard Eos do the same. Liara may have been the pregnant hormonal one, but Erra's mom was by far the more terrifying.

"What, mom?"

"I thought you were going to take care of the cake?" Teiron said.

"I did. Goddess, you are such a pain!"

"Goddess, watch your manners," Eos shot back, mockingly, winking at Teiron.

"Uuhg, I hate you both!"

Teiron and Eos watched her storm off in a huff, and Teiron pinched the bridge of her nose once she'd rounded the corner. "You wouldn't think she was almost seventy. At her age I was already living on my own."

"I'd already finished commando training at her age," Eos agreed. "But don't worry about her. Today is about my little sister. Where is that annoyance anyway?"

"Um, she's down the hall, napping."

"Wear her out?" Eos laughed, putting her daughter down and letting her toddle of toward her father, a quarian of middling years.

"I...I...Goddess, is there an 'embarrass Teiron' school out there somewhere? She's sixteen months pregnant!"

"Uh-huh. That never stopped me. And if my niece's ages are any indication it didn't stop Liara before either. I can't imagine, only ten years apart? I'm waiting until that one's grown and gone before I even think of having another."

"But they're so cute when they're little. And when you don't have to worry about..." Teiron shrugged.

"She's been tested?" Eos asked.

"Yeah. Not sure how good it is, but it's better than it used to be. The doctor's actually think that because of Allison's illness, there's a good chance that Liara doesn't carry the gene at all, otherwise, well, you know. There's still no one hundred percent way to know until the baby hits puberty though."

"No matter who her mother was, Liara's a Megaras at heart. We're wily bastards, but it takes a lot to put us down. I wouldn't worry too much."

"It's what I get for liking asari."

Eos laughed, and slapped her on the back, "We all like asari. Some of us are just better at hiding it than others."

Teiron grunted and fingered the silver-and-eezo bracelet that sat snug against her wrist. It seemed only yesterday that Liara had laid the woven one on her wrist at Erra's birthday party. Yet, so much had happened since. "I'm pretty sure I'd like her even if she was human," Teiron admitted, grinning rather stupidly as she thought of her bondmate.

"Oh, they creep you out too? They're, like, almost asari, but not. It's so wrong."

"Here's to that. Though quarian's aren't much better," Teiron added, glancing over at Eos' daughter, who was wrapped safely in the arms of her father.

"They're different where it counts," Eos said with a grin, tapping her temple, then rubbed her hands together. "Enough chit chat. Go wake my sister up. The fun way, you've got a little time. I'm going to finish making the baby bingo cards, and then find that errant daughter of yours. Errant Erra. I like it. Works better in the human language English though, _Errant Erra_."

Teiron chuckled. She hadn't known any human languages when she'd named her daughter, but that certainly fit well. Seventy years, and she'd yet to find a way to control the little beast that was her daughter.

"You are aware the downstairs bedroom doesn't have a door, aren't you?"

"And you're aware that I don't care, aren't you? Only Liara is that finicky about that sort of thing. She is such a prude. So you meld and people can see. Big whoop."

Teiron cleared her throat and did her best not to let the color rise up in her cheeks. Liara was insistent that they keep the more interesting parts of their sex life to themselves. Most asari wouldn't find what they did pleasurable anyway, she insisted. Teiron had kept that promise, with one exception. She'd told Illira, on the girl's wedding day. It seemed wrong not to. They had been friends before she'd become her step-father after all. Nillye had been the one to write the thank you card. But Eos would just have to remain in the dark.

"Right. Meld. I'll just, go see to that now."

"You go get 'er, girl." Eos called after her.

Why, Teiron thought, as she slipped into the bedroom and ran her hands up her sleeping partner's back, why couldn't they have had a nice, simple, _normal, _ family?

"Oy, T, don't jostle my sister too much, 'kay?" Kiyett called from the doorway, causing Teiron to bow her head and let her hands drop from Liara's shoulders.

Right. She'd married a T'Soni. With all the Shepard baggage that went along with it.

That was why.

And she loved every damn minute of it she decided as Liara rolled from her side, onto her back, with a warm, sleepy smile on her face. Every damn minute.

* * *

_I think it's only right to point out that this story, and all chapters therein, have no connection to Broken and its sequels (you did go read them, right? I mean it, go! Read!) and I'm just borrowing Eos for my own nefarious purposes._


End file.
